I used the online prayer space found at Sacred Space. It is run by the Jesuits in Ireland. It provides a series of guided thoughts and mediations. One section of the prayer site is called Freedom. This morning, something clicked. In this section there is often suggestions that we need to let God shape us. Today, it said “I ask for the grace to let myself be shaped by my loving Creator.”
The serendipity occurred when I connected freedom with shaping. One wouldn’t normally think of being free if someone else was in control of shaping. This morning, I began to wonder. How can I be free and be shaped by God’s hand?
One way that I can be shaped and still be free is that if I give myself to God and let God begin His work, then there is a lot I will not have to decide. If I am firmly in God’s grasp then I can be free to know that wherever God wants me to be, that is where I should be. Whatever God wants me to do—that is what I should do. There is freedom in such a way of thinking.
In order for this to occur, however, there also needs to be Faith. I don’t just blindly trust God. I must have faith to believe that God loves and cares for me. That God wants the best for me. That God sent his Son to die for me. If I can believe these things, then I can let the Creator continue to shape me. This is freedom.
