Monday Morning Meditation #33: Lord, Help Me, But Do It My Way

This week I made no progress at all through 2 Kings because I found the story that followed last week's to be profound. In it, Naaman, captain of the King of Aram's military forces, suffered from leprosy. He was convinced to seek help from the King of Israel, whom Elisha offered to help. When Naaman showed up, Elisha told him to wash himself in the water of the Jordan River seven times and he would be cured of leprosy. Naaman became angry with such a simple response, saying that the rivers of Damascus were just as good, if not better. However, Naaman's servant convinced Naaman to at least try the Jordan River cleansing, and it works. Naaman was cured of leprosy.

Reading: II Kings 5: 1-14

Meditation: Namman wanted to see some great feat -- a waving of hands, some pre-conceived concept that he had in mind, and that nearly kept him from being cured. How often do we miss out on blessings because we do not see them for what they are because they are small, not grand? How often do we expect answers to be prayers to be exactly what we expect them to be and reject anything else although the "anything else" might well be better -- and often simpler -- than what we asked for. I have observed teens in my first-year confirmation religious education class ask for good grades, rather than good study skills. The good grades are temporary; the good study skills are permanent. When they do develop good study skills with the help of God, they may not recognize God's help at all for it was simple and appeared in small doses over time.

Likewise, I observe how my Lenten pledge to give us frustration is proceeding and am astonished at what has been happening. In totally imperceptible ways and without any specific incidents or obvious points of assistance, the amount of frustration in my life has slid from a high of strong frustration many times a day, not an unexpected thing given the new ground that I have been assigned to seize with very limited personnel assets and resources (new ground means little experience or knowledge on anyone's part), to a low I have never felt before. With the absence of frustration has come an incredible sense of calm that flows out from me into all the divisions that report to me. People have even started asking me how I can be so calm and relaxed in the tidal wave of escalating requirements. I cannot answer that question other than to say that God has been helping but so imperceptibly in manner that I do not know how yet I see and feel the result. This is not what I expected would happen. I expected to be able to see, measure, define, and elucidate the process of ameliorating frustration. No dice. I asked God for help, and He gave it to me in his own way. And you know what? His way is much better than any way I could have imagined. It is like body surfing on top of that tidal wave, going with the flow almost literally. (I know I am not explaining it well, but I hope you can somehow construct the picture from my limited ability to see, understand, and describe the mysterious way in which God has been working.)

The best part, in my experience, of letting God answer prayer His way is that I don't have to think up how I want to get help. I can just give God the problem and wait to see where He leads me in its resolution or simply observe, usually with amazement, how He resolves it. (One example about which I blogged a number of months ago is the time that Doah, my youngest son who is mentally challenged, ended up in court. Another example is the time when, being in a tiny lake-side town a few hours from Moscow, I asked for strength to outlast the pain of a bladder infection until morning when I could get to a hospital for help and God simply cured the infection on the spot. God's answers are always better and more appropriate than anything I could think up so, therefore, I do not want God to do it my way; I want God to do it His way.)

And that is far as I can go with you this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer before leaving in two hours for the airport. More important than that dash north (and it is always a dash because I tend to overfill my hours) is taking the time to thank God for the ways in which He continues to surprise me with answers to prayers (and the simplification of life's complexities even when I don't ask for help), to ask Him to help others see His hand where it is present (especially my catechism teens and those to whom I am close), and to praise Him for how wonderful His way is, while making an ongoing commitment to let God have His way always. After that, I will spend as much time as I can in contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation, but first, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:
Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I hope you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts.

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs that follow the enumeration of Monday Morning Meditations on the sidebar of this blog and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.