Friday, December 03, 2010

Pax et bonum…

Jesus does not demand
great actions from us
but simply surrender
and gratitude.

(St. Therese of Lisieux)

Why does this just fill my heart with such joy and peace, as though I’d been waiting for I don’t know how long to hear just these words?

2 comments:

Sue said...

Yeah, the great surrender. The new album by a band I love called Over the Rhine. Have you heard of them? They sing beautiful melancholy songs about the long, slow surrender of a human to God.

These words fill me with joy too, Mike. Even though I don't even know right know what to think or feel about Jesus any more. It's funny, and I don't know if it makes any sense or not, but I'm having doubts from an historical perspective about him, but I still love him as much as I always did.

And so I feel joy and peace and a little sadness at these words. And so I surrender and feel grateful to the extent that I can.

While still having God here, in the midst. Oh, what a glorious mess this ride is sometimes :)

Gabrielle said...

It's a huge relief. One can feel weights and burdens and stress being released and draining away. If we could live daily with an understanding of how simple Jesus really wants us to be, and how simple He's made it for us, instead of being so hard on ourselves all the time.