240. Complete Abandonment to Jesus

So many times, we hear people tell us that they are worrying endlessly. About everything. I do so too, from time to time. For example, now that the weather is so "extreme" - for instance the severe cold and snowfalls up north, and all these cold fronts that keep coming down, with Tornados, as recently experience in Central Florida - I wonder what will happen this summer. I suppose that's natural. We, in Florida, are very "at the mercy of" summer weather. Hurricanes as we experienced in 2004, cost us a lot of money, funds that the insurance companies did not cover, and now, on top of that, they have raised their premiums sky-high.

As I meditate on all that, and all the possibilities, I feel ashamed. Here, I have a nice house. It's a single-wide manufactured house, which would give some people pause, because they aren't all that strong, but it is a nice house. It sits in a Mobile Home Park which has a good feel to it. More than half of the folks that live here are "Snowbirds" - mostly from Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The rest are permanent residents and they are all nice people. The people who own this park are super! They are helpful and they make one feel like an old friend. So I am blessed with a house I can still afford (so far!) even though costs are going up. Vero Beach has a somewhat raised living standard. It's a nice town, but everything is on the expensive side, at least for people retired on Social Security income. Essentially, that's me.

I have come to the conclusion, that there are few things in life we can change. So basically, it comes down to our own attitude in dealing with these potential difficulties. I have also found that Jesus does not want us to worry, but rather, to take all these worrisome matters and lay them at the foot of the Cross.

Some people check their horoscope in trying to figure out their future. That's not me, in fact, Catholics should not rely on horoscope or on the stars. They, along with believing Christians should place their complete trust in God. Go to God for guidance. Talk to Him, and abandon yourself completely to Him. He will not fail you. Not ever.

There are people who come up to share, and you can hear the fear in their voice... they lament, one could even say (somewhat uncharitably) that they "whine." And what do they whine about? About things we cannot change. Things that only God can change. If you take your troubles to Jesus, you don't have to whine or complain. He will help you in every way, as He has been doing your whole life.

We never learn (that includes me, too). I've looked back over my life, and I can readily identify situations where God intervened and put me back on the straight path. He is like that. He is constantly looking our for us, as long as we follow Him. When we forget about Him, he does not forget about us, but it is us who lose Him, by our own inattention to Him.

God does not lead us into temptation. We lead ourselves into temptation by giving in to the wiles of Satan. God is always on our side, and if we truly believe in Him, we too will be strong enough to abandon ourselves to Him. So, don't complain or worry. Just try to eliminate sin in your life, because that is what we do if we truly love him. Do not say "Well, we are sinners." We know we are, yes... but we also know that acknowledging this constantly will keep us from trying to sin no more. We know we can do better and we should!

It is true that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (the Bible says so, in Mat. 26:41), but if we keep saying this long enough, then we're prejudicing ourselves into believing that we cannot overcome our weaknesses. We can. And many have. If our love for God is strong enough, and for the right reasons (that we want to be with Him in Paradise in time everlasting because we love God so, because he came on earth in his Humanity to save us from our sins), then with total abandonment to Him, we will overcome the temptations to sin.  As you do this time and again, the spirit becomes stronger and stronger, and Satan know then that we're no longer weak. That's when he'll leave us alone much of the time.

But, if you are not making any effort to fight temptation, and you become lazy in fighting it, then you get yourself into deep trouble. A teacher told me the other day, that nowadays she is not permitted (in public schools) to point out to students that they are wrong. She said that this is a function of religion. Well, that's a very dangerous precedent. If public schools teach their students that they are not responsible for discerning right from wrong, we're in for a lot of trouble. The students will get into a lot of trouble but so will the rest of us, because we are often the victims of the trouble created by a hardened heart. I implore the young of today, to please be careful what you do. Do not get in over your head. Discern what is wrong and what is good. Don't always listen to what your buddy says, but listen to that voice in the innermost part of your soul, the voice of reason, the voice of Jesus Christ. Or, if you are not a Christian, then the voice of God, no matter what name He goes by in your life.

Good people do not steal, they do not harm themselves nor others. They believe in helping out their families, neighbors, and people less fortunate than themselves. Good people respect the privacy of the other person, and they have respect for others, as well. You know who you are, and you can be proud that you have overcome a lot of temptation.

Those of you, who do steal, who have no respect whatsoever for anyone else (which usually means you do not respect yourself either), who hang out with so-called friends who continually seek to lead you astray. Watch out! There may come a time in your life that you'll end up in jail, or somewhere else where life will be most unpleasant, and that includes hell. Please repent. Sin no more, and join the rest of us. I have a feeling that "the rest of us" are the minority, but with God's help, we shall overcome evil and survive. Abandon yourself in Jesus, and you'll be healed.

May God bless you, and keep you well!

Fred Schaeffer, SFO
February 10, 2007

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