Are you willing to let God change you?

By Community Contributor

are you willing to let God change youWe sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood [God], praying only for knowledge of [God’s] will for us and the power to carry that out. – Step Eleven of the Twelve Steps

Richard Rohr, in his daily meditation, points out that prayer is not about changing God (to do what we want), but being willing to let God change us. Or, as Step Eleven states, “praying only for the knowledge of [God’s] will for us and the power to carry it out.” Our willingness to find God in our own struggle with life – and let it change us – is our deepest and truest obedience to God’s eternal will.

The thing is, we must keep practicing. Choosing God’s will over our own is always hard. Faithwalking 201 encourages us to build a “spiritual workout” into our routine – building muscles in order to get different results than we’ve experienced – more radical obedience, more intimacy with God , more capacity for authentic community, more loving concern for the world. A rhythm of spiritual practices becomes a way of life for us, opening the possibility for more breakthroughs.

A prayer of quiet and self-surrender best allows us to follow Step Eleven, because, as Rohr reminds us, only contemplative prayer (or meditation) invades, touches, and heals the unconscious. Which is where our garbage hides … and where God hides and reveals “in that secret place” (Matthew 6:6).

Remember, the heartfelt desire to do God’s will is, in fact, the truest will of God. We just have to keep putting ourselves in the mindset of desiring God’s will. The honesty of Thomas Merton in the following prayer cuts to the meat of this. If you have the time, read this one out loud. Take it on for yourself.

Prayer of Thomas Merton:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think
I am following your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death,
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my struggles alone.

Contributed by: Adrianne McGee

photo credit: Shandi-lee via cc