Trust Part Deux

When I looked at my 7-year-old brother playing by the water, I was moved by a deep revelation.  I saw someone who is totally excited about life.  He was trying to catch an eel.  The eel and the rock he was hiding under were the only two realities that my brother was focused on.  How can he be so free?  Why isn’t he stressed or worried or anxious about life?  It’s because he has nothing to worry about!  This kid lives a totally spoiled, privileged life.  He wants for nothing.  He has the basic necessities of life plus a lot of other comforts.  His free time is filled with sports, play-dates, and fishing.  He has parents, teachers, and coaches to worry about how he is going to “turn out.”  He doesn’t care!

So why was I so moved?  As Christians, we are all in the same fortunate state.  I was moved because I am so blind to this reality sometimes.  I get caught up like anyone else with the details of life, the things to worry and be anxious about.  If only I could “be more like little children.”

God gives us the keys to happiness in scripture and we constantly forget them.  If an earthly father “knows how to give good things to his children, how much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask?”  My dad and step-mom provide for my little brother because of how much they love him.  He knows this, and he is happy.  How much more does God provide for all of us?

October 1 is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, traditionally called the “Little Flower.”  She’s one of my personal heroes.  If you are into novenas, today would be the day to start one to her.  Look for an upcoming post about Therese, especially to explain why her title is so irritating to me because there is nothing “little” or “flowery” about her.  She was radically abandoned to trusting in God as a child trusts in earthly parents.  It’s only because of God’s sense of humor that he put a warrior like her in the body of a dainty little French girl.  More on that to come…