When You Come to Serve The Lord Part IV: Reflections on Sirach

"Accept whatever is brought upon you,
and in changes that humble you be patient."
-Sirach 2:4


I Surrender

There is a secret to weathering all the challenges a life of ministry throws at you.  St. Paul shares this secret with us in Phillipians 4:11-13:

"Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me."

We must choose to be content.  That's it--the secret to joy and peace in serving the Lord.  Does this seem too simple to be true?  Well, I guess it is easier said than done.  Again, we are told that we must decide to be content rather than letting the crashing waves of our emotions and circumstance determine this for us. We can learn this contentment through surrendering and knowing that we too can "do all things in him who strengthens me."  Each joy or sorrow we experience in ministry must be accepted as God's will.  We can spend countless hours analyzing a situation or wondering how we could have done something differently.  While this can be helpful to some degree, at some point we must surrender control to God.  We must be convinced that what we are doing is His work and not ours.  When you have done the best you can and things still don't seem to work out, sometimes all you can do is throw your hands up in the air and say "I surrender!" and give it back to the Lord.


Blessed are The Flexible, They Shall not be Bent Out of Shape

No, the phrase above is not in the list of the Beatitudes.  It is a wise piece of advice I heard a long time ago somewhere in my training.  Anyone who works with me comes to know this proverbial phrase as well.  As the second part of Sirach 2:4 indicates, we will be faced with an infinite amount of changes to the original plan we had for any given situation.  So are we going to pout because things didn't go our way?  Maybe we just place the blame on our coworkers or those to whom we minister.  As viable as these options might seem, they will ultimately offer little peace.  

The more we surrender to God's will in all situations, the more detached we will be to our so called "plans."  Flexibility does not mean that we are spineless or without principle.  What it does mean is that we are open to how the Spirit might be working amidst our work to lead us in serving God in the best way possible.  We always have to keep the goal in mind.  For me, it is getting to Heaven and bringing as many people as I can with me.  Sometimes I have to let go of an awesome idea that I have that is not going to work and will not accomplish this ultimate goal.  It is only through this attitude of being malleable to God's will that we will know the contentment St. Paul describes in Phillipians 4 and the joy and peace of serving the Lord.