Lent: Work in Me by Amy Welborn, guest author
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
(2 Corinthians 5:20)
We’ve all created something: a cake, a poem, an engaging moment with a friend. All of these emerge from acts of creation and all are beautiful and frightening because we can never be quite sure of where they came from. We are there, they come from who we are, but there is something else, too, something unpredictable and something we can’t control.
Our spiritual life is like that. It’s our unique walk with God, but the truth is—as every great saint discovers—the more we attempt to control, the less “spiritual” the walk becomes because as we’ve inserted our own will, we push God aside.
On this first day of Lent, St. Paul points us in the right direction for the next few weeks: to be reconciled to God. We will act, we will do, we will do without. But the end of it all will be to recognize our helplessness, for it is not us who does the reconciling, ultimately. It is Christ, on the cross. We are who we are, we bring what we have, we let go of what is in the way and we let Christ work in us, mercifully, reconciling, creating us anew.
Jesus, work in me during this season of Lent.
“Work in Me“ was selected from Reconciled to God, Daily Lenten Devotions (Creative Communications for the Parish) with Amy Welborn’s permission to publish it on JoyAlive.net. Amy, mother of five, has worked as a Catholic high school teacher, Parish Director of Religious Education, writer for the Florida Catholic, columnist for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service. She has been writing full time since 1999 and has written nineteen books and many pamphlets and study guides. She is a regular contributor to the Living Faith and Living Faith for Kids devotionals.
amen!