Day 29
Change Requires Patience
Reflection By: Anonymous

I've lived long enough now to witness astonishing inner change! Some changes seem to come so quickly, it takes our breath away. A man dates a woman for years, unable to commit. After just a few months in another relationship, the wedding date is set, and commitment is there. A woman who is a dye-in-the-wool homebody suddenly has a yen for travel. A man who tries for years to quit smoking puts out his last cigarette, and doesn't look back. Someone unable to lose weight suddenly seems to melt away pounds and take on a new, healthier lifestyle.

Other changes come with a slowness that makes the soul ache. A person who lost the ballast of marriage through death or divorce still finds it hard to go on after years of being alone. To hear them talk, you would think it all just happened.. A woman who struggles to leave her home for even simple errands remains in therapy, trying, trying, trying to cope with her irrational but-all-too-real fear. The cigarette smoker tries yet another program to shake the habit permanently. The dieter watches every calorie and still struggles with weight.

I don't know why change is so difficult for some and seems so easy for others. A prayer authored by Thomas Merton may help us all:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I do believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

My dear Lenten traveler, let's try to stay on the road of change in prayer together.