{"id":7387,"date":"2020-08-16T08:31:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T12:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/?p=7387"},"modified":"2020-08-16T08:31:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T12:31:21","slug":"accept-adapt-surrender-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/accept-adapt-surrender-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Accept. Adapt. Surrender. Trust."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chiara, 15, walked into our family room after a socially distanced bike ride with a friend and wisely observed that just a couple of months ago wearing a mask seemed like such a burden, an unusual discomfort, but now it\u2019s completely normal and not really a big deal at all. That was perfect timing on her part because I, too, had been pondering the ways we humans are able to adapt to challenging or different circumstances with relative ease (unless we\u2019re just stubborn), and isn\u2019t that a marvelous and miraculous thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>I think a lot of people are realizing that truth and registering it on different levels. With regularity I see funny memes and cartoons go by on social media that all drive home the same sort of point: If, in 2015, someone had asked you where you would see yourself in five years, you never would have guessed it would be here, in the middle of a pandemic, wearing a mask, carrying hand sanitizer as if it were a talisman, isolating from friends and family. But here we are, and, for the most part, we\u2019re doing OK, if we\u2019re fortunate enough to remain healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think back to when all of this started in mid-March. When I left my office, I figured I\u2019d be back in a few weeks, a month or two at most. I didn\u2019t imagine we\u2019d be heading into the next school year still uncertain about how everything was going to work and whether any of it is a good idea. We are in uncharted waters every single day, treading water when we have to, swimming frantically when the situation calls for it, and every now and then sinking back and floating with ease, but always trying to just keep our head above the surface and carrying on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not easy, but for those of us with a deep faith and a regular prayer life, it\u2019s a little easier, I think. We feel less alone because we are connected to something so much greater than ourselves on a daily, constant basis. As we go through our days, we are very much aware of life\u2019s uncertainty, now more than ever, and of the need to accept what\u2019s been put in front of us and to surrender control, at least a little bit, to stay sane and centered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I look at my three children \u2014 each of them confronted with hurdles that had to be overcome during this pandemic as internships were lost, study abroad was canceled and gymnastics, once a daily staple, became a distant dream. And yet they have accepted, adapted&nbsp;and surrendered in the best sense of the word, the spiritual sense. They are moving forward, not completely sure where they\u2019re going or where they\u2019ll end up but trusting that forward is the only way to go. And that is the essence of faith. We don\u2019t know \u2014we can\u2019t know\u2014what\u2019s coming (even when we think we do), but we have to keep moving forward. Accepting, trusting, adapting, surrendering to wherever God leads us, even if it wasn\u2019t on our radar screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In one of his most famous prayers \u2014 one that\u2019s worth keeping close at hand \u2014 famed Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote: \u201cMy Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.&nbsp;Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Accept. Adapt. Surrender. Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This column originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cny.org\/stories\/to-accept-and-trust-where-god-leads-us,21326?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"August 13, 2020, issue  (opens in a new tab)\">August 13, 2020, issue <\/a>of Catholic New York. Photo above by <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@priscilladupreez?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\"><em>Priscilla Du Preez<\/em><\/a><em> on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/surrender?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\"><em>Unsplash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chiara, 15, walked into our family room after a socially distanced bike ride with a friend and wisely observed that just a couple of months ago wearing a mask seemed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[311,4,674,659,101,675,272,72],"class_list":["post-7387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-lines","tag-acceptance","tag-children","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid19","tag-life-lines","tag-social-distancing","tag-surrender","tag-trust"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Accept. 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