Trusting In God's Unfailing Love
A friend of mine recently sent me a handwritten copy of the Litany of Trust. It starts out with the words, “From the belief that I have to earn Your love: Deliver me, Jesus.” After I read this, my heart stopped. The truth of this one statement spoke to me so clearly that I knew in an instant God had desperately desired for me to pray these words.
These words spoke so clearly to me because I have been so influenced by the false need our society perpetuates that we must “earn” the love or respect of others by maintaining a sense of perfection in every area of our lives.
We constantly face the fear that it is not enough to just be ourselves. Instead, one must have the Joanna Gaines house, 2.5 children and executive job to seem worthy of praise in our culture. This feeling is especially intensified on college campuses as students feel the pressure to have the perfect image, trophy boyfriend or girlfriend at their side, participation in 20 different clubs and good grades just to keep up with the rest of the student body.
For each person, this pressure to be perfect manifests itself differently. No matter how it is manifested in our own lives, the pressure keeps all of us constantly running in circles chasing perfection until we feel as though we are finally “good enough” to feel loved.
It does not take long for this trend, which we experience in our society, to infiltrate our relationship with God. So many of the Christians I know, including myself, feel the burden of having to be perfect before they can present themselves before God. Instead of coming to God in prayer just as we are, we feel as though we have to show Him all the things that make us a “good Christian.” Then, when we inevitably fall short in our pursuit to earn God’s love, the feelings of not being good enough come creeping back in, whispering to us that God could never look at us as His beloved children again.
Does God want to lead us to holy perfection and sanctity? Yes, for this is what we are called to by the Father. Yet, we do not become Saints by endlessly toiling by ourselves. We become Saints by first surrendering ourselves to the Father, exactly as we are. He wants to meet us where we are at as sinners and transform us with the love that He freely gives to us in every moment.
It is then that we can walk hand in hand with Jesus, and He will show us the narrow path to Heaven. Let us begin this season of Lent in a spirit of surrender. Let us use this season of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer not as a way to earn God’s love, but as a way to respond to the love that has already been freely given to us.
Snyder is President of the Newman Catholic Community at the University of Southern Indiana. She is a junior in the USI Social Work program.
