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THURSDAY THOUGHT 3/13/08

For lack of a better term, I’ll call it the “Big Flip.”  That’s when everything got turned upside down.  When I was younger, I saw God as someone to avoid, or to at least not tick off.  So, I’d lay low and make sure I had not committed any egregious sins.  And, of course, when I got into trouble, I turned to Him for help or blamed Him…or both.  Not much of a relationship.
 
Somewhere along the way, though, I got to thinking less about me and more about God (ergo, The Big Flip), which turned my world on its head.  Life got to be less about following the rules to keep from getting clobbered (or praying for a well-timed miracle to pull my bacon out of the fire), but about wanting to do what God wanted me to do and become.  Big difference.
 
My point?  God has a plan and we’re part of it, and it is not to amass blessings, but to give them.  Enjoy.  — jri
 
“Pure prayer only takes possession of
our hearts for good when we no longer
desire any special light or grace or
consolation for ourselves, and pray
without any thought of our own satisfaction.”
        –    Thomas Merton