“‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” (Matthew 26:39).
My second son does not like to go to school. He does not really hate school once he gets there, but he really really dislikes the idea of school.
And this means that every single school-day morning, that child wakes up, gets out of bed and spends a little bit of time really hating school.
And that means that he sort of dreads school every morning.
And I have been thinking about that myself, because I do not much like waking up on a Monday morning to go to work. So I understand what it is like – in a way – to not want to do the things that need to be done in a day. I can also understand what it is like to be able to manage them quite well once I am in the experience itself. After all, despite struggling a little on a Monday morning, I am still able to function and work and get the things done that need to be done each day and week.
And I have been reflecting on that as I have been reflecting on the words of my Beloved in the Graden of Gethsemane on the eve before He died… “Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” (Matthew 26:39).
And it occurs to me that all of these little things that I do are just a replica of that.
It is true that I am not going through the Passion and Death of My Lord, but what is equally true is that if I use the little trials that are sent to me, I can practice that walk to Calvary in very small things. And perhaps, when He was walking on that day twenty centuries ago, Christ Himself thought of me and my little practice and the thought of that gave Him some microscopic crumb of comfort?
And I have been thinking about this as I have been thinking about my son and his rejection of school. For this experience of school is for my little boy a small way that he can practice the sacrifice required of Calvary. And to attain Heaven, we will all need to walk through Calvary. So, either we will learn to walk through Calvary with these little things or we will not be prepared to walk through that road when the big trials come.
And perhaps that is the whole reason why my son does not want to go to school and why I find Monday mornings so very difficult/ Perhaps that is a little Grace from God so that when the big things come, we will have built up a bit of a stockpile of Grace to help us along the way…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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