Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
I surrender these into Your hands.
Good stuff. And I definitely believe it. But I do have a rub with some of the stuff Monsieur de Caussade writes: "I no longer have anything to be concerned about, anything to do. I have no hand in the arrangement of one single moment of my life" (28) and "Mine is to be satisfied with your work and not to demand the choice of action or condition, but to leave everything to your good pleasure" (29). Does surrender mean the sacrifice of free will? Is there such a thing as too much complacency, even in God's will? Can't we be dissatisfied, seeing as we still live in a broken, fallen world?
Recently a friend of mine questioned the tendency of Christians to see unfortunate circumstances as "God's will" and simply accept them, rather than acting to improve them. I can't help but agree...I think God expects us to ACT and CHOOSE and DO according to his desires (justice, love, beauty, peace), but to surrender our own "ambitions, hopes and plans" along the way. It's definitely a paradox - essentially fighting and surrendering at the same time - but I have to believe it's possible. Anyone have any good analogies/images for this?
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