Trust more, worry less

The story is told about a stewardess who gave a Filipino some chewing gum with a smile, saying “For your ears, so they won’t hurt during the fight.” “Thanks Miss,” was the Filipino’s reply, and everything went fine until one hour before landing. There was a commotion at the back as people desperately tried to help the Filipino passenger remove from his ears the sticky chewing gum.

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In today’s Gospel (John 14:1-12), Jesus can’t seem to remove the sticky doubts and fears from His disciples’ hearts. “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still don’t know me?” It must be so frustrating at times for God when all He receives from us are calls of fears, unbelief, and doubt. When, oh, when will we learn to really trust and surrender everything to God?

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I saw this beautiful ad at the back of a bus, with this message: “Next time, relax, take a bus, and leave the driving to us.” For people who want to control everything in life, relax, we have a “Boss” who controls everything in and around us. If you let God do the driving, you will have a more peaceful and less stressful journey through life.

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“People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” Today, let us remember with gratitude the people whom God has given to us in this life and who have helped us in our earthly pilgrimage. Because of them, somehow, the load is lighter, the road is smoother, the journey is happier, and our fears are fewer. Having such people in our lives is a gift from God, and our relationship with them is—as someone beautifully put it—like that of the relationship of the eye and the hand: When the hand gets hurt, the eyes cry, and when the eyes cry, it is the hand that wipes the tears. Thank you, dear friends!

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“Worry not about the branches swaying in the wind as long as the trunk is firm,” says a Chinese proverb. As we go on in life, we will encounter problems so strong, external and internal, that we panic and lose sight of our blessings. It is such times that we need to calm down and draw from our inner strength and blessings. It is at such times when grace and joy will uplift us. And where do we get grace and joy? God is grace and joy, and we who abide in God are never wanting of grace and joy.

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Recapture grace and joy. Look at a child today. How simple, how innocent, how joyful they are! That’s you and me minus the worries, the tension, the guilt, the complications. We can make it happen again. The secret of the child is that he/she knows how to trust. The problem with us adults is that we play god or even think we are gods.

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God holds the world in His hands. Fine. The problem with us is that we often pray for what God holds in His hands, and not for who He holds in His heart.

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For many of us, it takes a while—maybe, a whole lifetime for some—before the lesson sinks in that the only way is God’s way. And so it is that we go on our way, chasing our worldly dreams, relying on our human wisdom, tapping on our worldly resources, only to find out in the end that life without God is empty, that a journey without God is lonely, and success without God is all vain glory. Let our solid motto be: God’s will; God’s way; God’s time.

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Let our prayers be: To God be the glory; to others, grace and bounty; to me, mercy. In that order. Things just fall into place with this basic threefold prayer. Otherwise, there is confusion, there is no peace, no direction. All our prayers should lead to God’s glory, not ours, nor some other creature’s. When we pray for others, especially those whom we have hurt or those who have hurt us, we pray for God’s grace to shine on them. Finally, when we pray for ourselves, let us just humbly say: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

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Along with the threefold prayer are the basic attitudes of obedience to God, love to others, and humility in ourselves. If we are to work for the glory of God, we must be obedient and docile. We must follow “His” way, not “my” way. If we are to be of true service to others, our basic attitude toward all is love, for love is grace concretized in the here and now. Finally, this threefold prayer unfolds into reality only if there is humility. Without humility, there can be no real obedience and no true loving. Discipleship without humility is empty.