Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch one of our granddaughters at her swimming lesson. When it was complete, and time for her to change from her wet clothes, I naturally started to assist her. “I can do it myself, grandma.” Well, okay then! I’ll wait out here. Another mom was wrestling with her three-year-old son, who kept whining, “I can do it myself,” as he fought her assistance.

We start young thinking we are independent and can do things ourselves. We continue growing with that mentality firmly planted in our minds. There is nothing inherently wrong with teaching children to be independent and self-sufficient. In matters of everyday tasks, that is a good thing. We get into trouble when we also have that state of mind when it comes to more complicated material and spiritual matters. We can be so self-reliant that we find no need of God in our life.

For many years, I would do all that was humanly possible until it wasn’t, and then I would reach out to God like a necessary pinch-hitter to bring me home. I wondered why I was exhausted, or others would not do what was required to reach the expected conclusion. I questioned why things had to be complicated or drag on so long. Where was God, and why wasn’t he helping me? The short answer is that God is a gentleman and won’t insert himself into my life without an invitation. So often, we work and push ourselves, praying superficially and wondering why God isn’t stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run for us. We laid out the plan, showed him the playbook, and pointed out when he would enter the playing field. “Okay, God, you’re up!”

We dare to coach the Alpha and the Omega by carelessly inserting him into our short-sighted will, whimsy, and later wondering why he didn’t suit up. 

When put that way, it sounds irreverent and disrespectful because it is.

Who hasn’t done this, either purposefully or unintentionally? Guilty, says I.

Day three of the Surrender Novena states this,

“How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me, and says to me; “You take care of it,” then closes its eyes and rests. In pain, you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me. Instead, you want me to adapt your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to. So do not act this way…”

Fr. Mike Schmitz likes to say, “God wants your problems, not your solutions.” “Surrendering,” he says, “is not giving up or avoiding the uncertainties of life; rather, it is giving God access to them. Trust is the mark of true surrender.”

I often wonder why we fear letting go and letting God. How small and insignificant does our impression or experience of God have to be to rely on the likes of ourselves? Yikes! Perhaps we don’t want to bother God or think our situation unworthy of his omnipotent attention. That’s a cop-out. I know I’ve relied on that load of blarney in the past. It all boils down to trust. This God I was afraid to bother has shown me how almighty, dependable, and intensely loving He is in countless ways (mostly painful due to my stubbornness). I have found him worthy of my trust, love, and surrender of all things complicated. He knows the perfect solution in any situation.

I invite you to give God a chance to show you his majesty and miraculous powers. On Him, you can always depend.