Do not let your hearts be troubled
Apr 24th, 2008 by Liz
Over the past week, the gospel repeated these words over and over. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” And yet, even as I read them over and over, I realized that my insides were saying to me - “That’s wonderful. But, my heart IS troubled.”
Not troubled in a massive, overwhelming fashion. But, small waves of troubled. It’s always that way when I see my children (adult though they are) having a rough go of it. Not earth-shaking rough, just rocky, uneven ground that challenges them, and me, to be a bit more trusting. The kind of bumps in the road that let us know that we do walk by faith and not by sight.
If I, as a mother, have these troubled feelings when the road is not smooth for my offspring, I can only imagine how Mary must have felt as she watched her son follow his path that led to the cross. It makes me want to shout to God - “make it smooth for them! Let me take these trials for them!” And yet I know that each of us must walk the walk ourselves.
Over the past few days, as my daughter and I have talked through some of the things that are causing her stress, and discussed things that I still would probably hesitate to talk with my own mother about, it does strike me that we are drawing closer to each other. We are sharing. We are becoming a bit more of a community. In many ways, that is how I learn to listen to those words “Do not let your hearts be troubled” and begin to accept them in my heart.
I circle back to that prayer that seems to ground me always:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference
