The Road Along

Looking back on my life, I notice that when loss of belief or faith happens, there is a corresponding loss of attention to the good and bad in our lives.  Our daily life isn’t hooked to anything tangible anymore.  Guide posts disappear.  Only personal determination keeps us afloat to a greater or lesser degree.  More determination equals more success.  Less determination equals just floating alone, pushed in this direction and then than.  We becomes aimless. 

But what happens when our life hits a strong headwind and we are tossed this way and that?  Do we fight to stay afloat on our own for a longer period of time of do we sink fast because we have let life just push us along?  Either way, we sink.  Determination flags sooner or later because we have attached our belief or faith on nothing beyond ourselves.

Starting our day with something as simple as coffee and prayer reminds us that there is something bigger than ourselves and we are surrounded by it.  No matter what the day may hold for us, being open to something beyond our own determination makes what comes easier.  Good starts can meet bumps in the road.  Rocky starts can smooth over.  Either way, a prayer of thankfulness or its lack, will shape our day. 

Decades of self-determination only resulted in decision-making that was weakened by the lack of the presence of God in my own life.  Now, each day, I have to repeat my process of coffee and prayer.  Will distraction slow me down or will I have a moment of grace and raise my mug and prayer book together to greet my day with my Lord and His Mother at my side?  I’ll see how that goes tomorrow but unlike Lot’s wife, I will not look back.  Day by day, I’ll step forward, my hand outstretched to be grasped by God.