By Theresa Anthony, author of In Search of Gopher Hollow (releases November 5)
There I was, yesterday morning, on the road to my weekly Adoration hour at church. I was running a little late, so picture Maria racing back to the Abbey in The Sound of Music – that was me trying to get to the church on time.
Driving along, about halfway there, I found myself, as usual, running through the mental list of tasks lying ahead of me. Because I am this close to publishing my new book, there are a slew of last minute details to attend to, making my to-do list feel especially overwhelming yesterday morning.
I suddenly realized I was gripping the wheel more tightly than usual and seemed to be wearing an unbecoming scowl on my face. My next thought was, “Oh boy, Jesus must look down at us and just laugh, watching us trying to control every little aspect of our lives.”
It’s true. We mortals fool ourselves into believing that we are in control of everything that happens in our days, when in reality we have very little say in the way each day ultimately unfolds. This mini-revelation led to a very beautiful moment. I could almost hear Jesus saying, “My daughter, you worry too much. Please don’t worry, just love me.”
Just love me. Wow. That hit me right in my soul. All He wants from his flawed little human children is our love.
Think about it. If we could just stop frantically spinning around inside our own heads – always trying to stay on top of everything, to avoid making mistakes, missing appointments or whatever – long enough to simply turn our faces to heaven and whisper, “I love you, Lord,” think of how happy He’d be.
Along with this heartfelt expression of love should also come an automatic desire not to sin, to not offend Jesus. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments, right? We will show Him by our actions that we truly do love Him.
As all of this was permeating my consciousness, I suddenly, impromptu, started praying the Our Father out loud, just me in my car tooling along. I spoke each line very deliberately, slowly, and with almost renewed understanding of the meaning of this prayer that Jesus taught us.
The crazy thing is that I could literally feel the stress leaving my body as I approached the last mile of my trip. I stopped worrying that I would be three minutes late. I stopped enumerating all the items on my to-do list. In response, I felt my hands ease their grip on the steering wheel, and my whole demeanor felt lighter. I would even go so far as to say that my face lost that scowl and relaxed into a look of serene contentment.
I told myself that of course my book will be published on schedule because Jesus helped me author it. I recognized that my laundry can wait, and so could the thick carpet of leaves that needed bagging in my front yard. I told myself to chill out and let Him take care of me.
Yes, this was just my personal little “Jesus take the wheel” moment yesterday, but I figured I would share it. Can’t we all use a reminder now and then to put our trust in Jesus, and even more than that, to just love Him?
New Release: November 5
This memoir was a labor of love!
People often ask me how I manage to get up in the morning, much less accomplish anything, after enduring so much loss. In this new memoir, I share about the many challenges I have faced in my life, and how the influence of my amazing grandfather equipped me for the difficulties that lay ahead.
Please Hit the Heart Button Before You Leave!