Don't "should" on yourself

Lent 2012 A Clean Heart, Create in Me           C.S.Lewis

Wednesday, March 14                                                  Matthew 5:19

A dangerous word, “should.”  Especially when we cannot understand the whole picture, we are not equipped to be judges, we are driven by desires and temptations and think we know what should be.  We think that any improvement is enough, is all that God has planned.  We want to be satisified, finished with all the change and work and struggle and just have peace and joy.  We are worried of what that higher level will cost us.  We forget that peace is not an end to conflict but an acceptance of the right relationship with God.  True joy is seeing the world and its people as God has created.  Joy is living in that sweet spot where every breath is a light onto eternity.  Should is a dangerous word because it invariably leads to disappointment.  Instead let us focus on the word “be.”  Lord, be thou my vision.  Shape my yearnings to Your will.  Instead of grasping at sky-high expectations let me be held in your presence.  Teach me how to be, simply truthfully authentically yours.  Amen.