Master of Our Ship

Copyright 2019 Lisa Simmons. All rights reserved.[/caption] How many times have you thought about asking God for a solution to a problem then found yourself trying to solve all by yourself? It seems to be an unending journey of self-discovery in faith when we know we cannot run our lives by ourselves, yet pride, forgetfulness, and hurry-up-and-go gets us going in the wrong direction. The Church is quick to remind us of how much we need meditative prayer, whether it be sitting and listening in the quiet of the Lord’s presence or praying the Rosary or other prayers. Why so much emphasis on quiet meditation? Because that is when we really hear the answers God has for us. For many years I have taught Confirmation classes to our high-school students, and for the last several years I decided to take time out of our two-hour block of class time and have the whole class go over to church and sit before the Blessed Sacrament for fifteen minutes. It amazed me how much the teens enjoyed this time and were disappointed if we didn’t make time to go. I realized that they need meditation time, maybe even more than we adults do. They have so much going on in their lives, decisions to make, choices, school work, family issues, friends, peer pressure good and bad. That time they spent in church gave them an excuse if you will to sit and listen. We as adults need that time too, though. We think we are superheroes: taking care of our families, working one or two jobs, socializing with friends or people in our community or church. We forget that we need that one-on-one time with the Lord to realign ourselves with the relationship we have with Him. We may think we are the master of our own ship or home, but we quickly find out that we simply cannot do it without God’s help. He helps our patience, our love, compassion, and peace. He creates us into listeners to our children, our family and friends. It’s God's influence in the peace and quiet that quiets our souls, makes us take a deep breath and live free. In our stubbornness we like to think we are the masters of our ship, but it would be better to smile and acknowledge to ourselves that we truly are not the Master; there is only one true Master and He is God.