Stop Clinging

“One sure way to lose friendships, whether in family relationships or anywhere else is to try to hang on to it too tightly… The Lord calls us to the poverty of being always ready to relinquish everything that is given to us, so that it can be given back to us enhanced and multiplied... the reason why it is so important for us to unlearn the kind of possessing that the devil taught us is that, ultimately, the only thing worth possessing is utterly beyond all possessing.” (Fr. Simon Tugwell)

This is what God has been trying to show me. To not cling, but instead, enjoy the gifts He places before me. To enjoy the people that He brings into my life but to always be open to His plan, not trying to make it more than it was ever meant to be, to not interfere with His plan because then I don’t receive all that He is trying to give me. I miss out on His grace when I try to manipulate the situation. I need to enjoy His gifts but always be willing to give them back.

In today’s gospel, two of the men use their talents to their fullest and because of this they grow and flourish, doubling in number. But the men are eager to let them go, they gives them back to the master because it is only to the master that they belong. Dear Lord, help me to stand back and allow your will to be done. You know how hard this is for me to do. Help me to allow you to lead and I follow, always.

“Well done, my good and faithful servant,” how I long for the Lord to say these words to me some day. “You were faithful in small matters, so now I give you great responsibility.” People have told me that I must be strong for God to have placed so many trials before me because He never gives us more than we can handle. But I wasn’t strong, I was held prisoner in my fear. God rescued me and showed me that He is with me and has always been with me. Maybe He sees me as faithful and strong because He has taught me to call upon Him for everything. I am nothing without him. Like St. Paul tells us in the first reading, “whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

I am here today, at this place in my life, because of our Lord. I was able to give my witness last weekend because of Him. I am learning that I don’t need to fear others knowing about my past because it allows others to see what the Lord has done for me. It allows others to see how God can take a broken, lost, lonely and fearful girl and put her back together again. It is all Him and this allows others to have hope. That is why I am here today, to offer the hope of Christ to others.

“He entrusted his possessions to them.” This is why the master gave his servants the talents. He trusted them. He believed that they would use them for good. The Lord does the same for us. All that we receive from Him is for good and in order for us to “grow” what he has given us we need to trust in Him. We need to call upon His guidance to lead us where there is a need for our talents. Maybe He will use us to touch only a few people in a profound way and others he uses to touch the lives of many, such as the pope or Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Either way, if we do His will, we will hear the words, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”