Right Size

I form light and create darkness,
    I make weal and create woe;
    I the Lord do all these things.

-Isaiah 45:7

I want things to go well in my world.  I work hard toward that goal.  I do a lot of 'good do-be' things like recycling and neatening up the house, being kind to strangers and accepting communal responsibilities.  And so sometimes I can get stressed out when my to-do list gets really long and I can get weighted down by the many things that seem to rest solely on me to get done.  It is at those times that it is really important for me to remember that I'm not in charge of the world - or even, ultimately, how my life goes.  I can only do in a day what I can do, and some days that's more than others while I always try to do my best. And really, I don't have anything more than that to worry about.  Because ultimately, I am not the one who gets to choose whether or not my life will go well - whether it will be in harmony or discord, weal or woe.  Ultimately, that kind of thing is on God's to-do list, not mine.

I guess this can be good or bad news, depending on how you look at it.  I mean, if God is really in charge of everything in the whole universe, I've certainly got a thing or two I'd like to complain about.  God allows awful things happen in this world and in individual lives.  What the heck is God thinking to create a world this messy and painful?  

On the other hand, the world is so complicated and history's timeline is so vastly long, I can never claim to grasp them.  I don't know about the infinite factors that led up to this moment or the ramifications this moment will have on the future.  When I remember how small I am in relation to all of time and creation, it can feel like quite a relief that God is the one who is responsible for ordering the universe - and not me!  12 step spirituality refers to this realization as getting 'right sized' -  taking myself out of the center of the universe and remembering that God is God and I am not God.  I am, as the bible says, just a puff of wind.  A mere blade of grass.

Do you ever feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders?  Do complicated world or national issues keep you up at night?  Do you constantly try to figure out ways to fix problems - or other people - that are not yours to fix?  If you know that feeling, it can be a very liberating and helpful thing to remember that only God is God so you can get some sleep!  There's little you can do to control what tomorrow may bring.  But there are many ways you can be right now that can make a difference for yourself or someone else.  And that's the thing to focus on - the person God is calling you to be right now.  Why spend any more time, health and energy worrying or trying to change things too complicated for you to understand, let alone fix.

Thanks to God we don't have to do that. 

This Sunday's readings are HERE

Note that during Ordinary Time, we are using the readings from "Track 2"