Life didn't turn out the way I expected

Life doesn't always turn out the way we expected. 

Nor the way we'd hoped.

God became man and was hated, persecuted, tortured, and crucified.

So what then can we lay claim to but the same, or worse?

Yet He has not punished us as our sins deserve, but regards us rather as children - HIS children.

Pain, misery, agonies, loneliness, and rejection all take their toll on us. We are, humanly speaking, dying from the time we are born.

Yet we are likewise called to a higher life, a new life divinized by union with Christ Jesus, the God-man. 

We struggle between this death and the promise of this divine life; we admire the beauty of creation but are admonished to detach from creatures.

What does that mean?

I don't know, and my ignorance cannot excuse me from my attachment to this world, this life, and the good things God has given me to enjoy.

As I look back on a long life that seems to have flown by like a sped-up film, God has been exceedingly good to me.

My ingratitude, pride, and lust for pleasure has blinded me to seeing what was there all along:

the goodness of God the Father endowing me with a living soul made in His image and likeness.

The mercy of God the Son sacrificing Himself for the chief of sinners, I.

The wisdom of God the Holy Ghost imparting to me supernatural grace to know and love this Triune God of all compassion and holiness.

No, life did not turn out at all like I imagined as a young man.

But that can only be for my good.

The heavenly Father Who ordains all things for my good and His glory knows best.

May He grant me faith to accept that nothing that happens to me can separate me from His eternal love and empire of mercy.

May we learn to appreciate His gifts without undue attachment to them, but through them render humble thanks to the Giver.

Lord deliver me from my own vain desires, and teach me to trust in you like a little child.

Originally posted 2 October 2020