Open the Door to Your Heart's Vulnerable Places

Lord, thank you for being with me this day.
With your help, I haven’t been impatient,
lost my temper, been grumpy, judgmental
or envious of anyone...
But I will be getting out of bed
in a minute, and I think I will really
need your help then.
Amen.

The prayer above may initially look like a silly little prayer, but it is actually a nugget of wisdom. Some of us do awaken in the morning and find that we can be patient, even-tempered and tolerant-- by the grace of God-- and it’s important that we thank God for that grace. Awareness that we are dependent upon the grace of God is an essential way to begin our day-- every day.
 

Why? Because once our feet hit the floor and we march out the front door, our ability to fully live by the Christian principle of love your God, love your neighbor and love yourself is not so easily achieved. In fact, it’s impossible to achieve in and of ourselves.

 
Those of us who have learned through experience know that we must surrender our best intentions-- and our very selves-- to God before we ever even get out of bed each morning.  And we must continually surrender to God throughout our day. If we rely upon ourselves to carry us through our day, to be kind and attentive to our needs and the needs of others, we will find ourselves getting frustrated, impatient, judgmental, envious and angry. Self-reliance is a doorway to disaster, jealousy and hostility.

 
Every morning when I get up I say this little prayer to God: “Please, God, help me to do what I am capable of doing today. And help me to surrender to You that which is beyond my control. I will allow You to do for me what I cannot do for myself or others.” Through this prayer I take responsibility for doing what I need to do for myself, and I allow God to do for me what I am powerless to do.

 I understand that I have great difficulty being loving, charitable, merciful and forgiving on my own. But when I accept God’s graces, a door opens in my heart. It's the door to all of my vulnerable places. Once that door swings open, I find I'm able to embrace myself as God created me, just as I am, and treat myself with loving kindness. And once I’m able to do that, it’s much easier to be truly loving and kind to others. It’s suddenly as natural as grace itself.

 Meditate on your willingness to surrender yourself to God and to be thankful for God’s graces today. Allow your heart to be vulnerable before God and allow your soul to shine!