More Than Enough

Elizabeth Reardon shares an invitation to ponder the challenges of Lent and the spiritual fruit we can savor this Easter season.

God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

As Lent can be such a challenging time, with balancing our spiritual and professional lives, we might actually miss the opportunity to reflect on how well we did in our desire to grow closer to God. Did we start with one goal and find God inviting us to pursue a different path or that goal in a different way? Were there surprises that lay in store for us that we could not have imagined? Here is where the Easter season allows us the time and space to assess our difficulties as well as growth and to embrace renewal once again.

Personally this Lent, I felt God’s gracious invitation to become more aware of His creativity and to encounter that creativity with gratitude and greater participation. Ever so gently, I was being encouraged to be less intent on working ahead, to think outside of the box, and give thanks regardless of the challenge. And for those that gave up that morning coffee or worked on patience, this sounds easy—right? Well, it all can be, when we give God the reins and recognize why He calls us to sacrifice and growth in the first place.

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Working in the life of the Church, it can become far more comfortable to do things as we have always done them, without another thought. However, when those in ministry positions do that, liturgies and events can become rote and dry, completed and then put away until the next year. We may tend to ask the same volunteers because we know them to be dependable and most likely to say yes. Yet, conversely, we could open ourselves up to noticing others who have been waiting to be welcomed in, using their gifts to bless our worship and allow God to reimagine our journey together.

So too, for the creativity that God employs in calling us into conversation with Him. Perhaps you have a set schedule of prayer or way of praying, but today you felt God drawing you outside for a walk. Maybe you took that walk and noticed the majesty of a hawk overhead surveying the world, and wondered about the perspective she had with the world below and the clouds above. How would that change how you saw the greater community that you live in? How would that change your inner and outer movement with God as you navigate your to-do list that day?

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Whatever God placed on your heart this Lent, trust that it can all be worked out in due time. #CatholicMom

As we seek to unfold our Lenten experience during this Easter season, we are reminded that we hold both the penitential sacrifice and the joy of the Resurrection in tandem within. Whatever God placed on your heart this Lent, trust that it can all be worked out in due time. That is, if we are open and ready to participate in the plan that He has for our lives. For God has provided a creative abundance of ways to accomplish it all if we but trust that He is more than enough.

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