the will of the father

Opening Prayer: Most merciful God, order my day so that I may know what You want me to do, and then help me to do it. Let me not be elated by success or depressed by failure. I want only to take pleasure in what pleases You, and only to grieve at what displeases You. For the sake of Your love I would willingly forgo all temporal comforts. May all the joys in which You have no part weary me. May all the work which You do not prompt be tedious to me. Let my thoughts frequently turn to You, that I may be obedient to You without complaint, patient without grumbling, cheerful without self-indulgence, contrite without dejection, and serious without solemnity. Let me hold You in awe without feeling terrified of You, and let me be an example to others without any trace of pride. ~Thomas Aquinas

Scripture: Matthew 12:46-50

Journal: What does it mean for you to do the will of the Father today?

Reflection: God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to. ~Elisabeth Elliot

I have one desire now—to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it. (Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot)

I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly to pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done. (Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot)

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights you most, to value what is precious in your sight, to hate what is offensive to you. Do not allow me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of my ears; but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all things, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Your will. ~Thomas À Kempis