Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought For The Week
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 20.09.2007 (Article Archived on 04.10.2007)

I know that this is a little late but I received this New Year’s Prayer in the information my mother regularly sends from her church last week. It does seem to fit in with the readings from this week.

Thought For The Week

                I know that this is a little late but I received this New Year’s Prayer in the information my mother regularly sends from her church last week.  It does seem to fit in with the readings from this week.

May God make your year a happy one,

not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,

but by strengthening you to bear it, if it comes.

Not by making your path easy,

but by making you sturdy enough to travel any path.

Not by taking your hardships from you,

but by taking fear from your heart.

Not by granting your unbroken sunshine,

but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows.

Not by making life always pleasant,

but by showing you when people and their causes need you most,

and by making you anxious to be there to help.

Amen

                This to me is a more realistic prayer than many that we make.  We all want to have an easy, happy life, one without any pain or sorrows, but most of us are also practical, and we admit that this isn’t a realistic goal.  With every ray of sunshine comes clouds and rain, with every joy we encounter, we know that life will also deal out some sorrow.  It’s a fact of life.

                The important question, then, is how are we going to deal with the tough things that come our way?  Are we going to have the strength to cope?  How many times have each of us prayed, when faced with a difficult time, to just have the courage, the wisdom and the strength to get through it?  I know that I have uttered a good many prayers like that in my time.  I think that most of us have.

                In the first reading we are reminded by the prophet Jeremiah,  that a blessing is on the man who puts his trust in the Lord.  He is like a tree by the waterside, whose roots will be thrust into the stream, and which will take up enough water to withstand a future drought.  This is what this New Year’s prayer is saying, by praying that we are given the strength to withstand whatever comes.  Anyone can wish you a year filled with nothing but joy and happiness and good things, but it is a true friend who wishes for us the courage, strength and wisdom to deal with what will really happen.  The fun times are easy, the joy comes easily, but the tough times are the times we need help with. 

                And God is there with the help.  He is the one who we can turn to in the tough times.  He is the one that we can ask for help, help in the way of the strength to handle life’s adversities.  His love is bountiful.  He wants a good life for us, but life is what it is, and unfortunately, into each life some sad times will fall.  It is our love for others, and our wish for the best for them that will lead us to these sad times.  We will lose people we love, we will watch those we love suffer through their own tough spells, and our hearts will ache for them.  We may be disappointed by people we’ve given our hearts to, and we will have to learn to move forward.  By God’s love, we will find the strength to deal with adversity, and to find what we need within us to pass this strength on to those who need it as well.

                So in the good times, never forget who gives us our strength.  Remember to take a few moments each day to focus on our strength, and on God’s gifts to us.  Then, when the bad times sneak up on us, as they inevitably will, we will find that we have enough nourishment to survive the drought.

                May God bless all who are living through the drought, and may God lead them back to the side of the stream.