Geanne Guyon once wrote, “What is abandonment? It is forgetting your past; it is leaving the future in His [God’s] hands; it is devoting the present fully and completely to your Lord. Abandonment is being satisfied with the present moment, no matter what that moment contains. You are satisfied because you know that whatever that moment has, it contains-in that instant-God’s eternal plan for you.”
Some people come across presenting the Christian life as something that you constantly try to acheive, and even some live under the notion that all is acheived (even to the point of sinlessness) when you are a Christian. The first will make you tired, and the second one will make you faint as you find out that the closer you get to what you think is perfection, the closer you are to not living in reality. Abandonment (as in: giving up yourself to experience more of God), is not a destination, but rather, it’s a sacrament of the present moment. It’s not a list of things that you think you need to accomplish in order to be pious. Abandonment is trusting God right now. It’s giving up continually. Paul (the Christian killer turned Christian Missionary) once wrote, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brother, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14) Paul was all about moving forward. It wasn’t about what he had accomplished, or about something he had to “do.” It was about a journey…a race. He was holding onto Christ, because Christ took hold of him. So I guess I say all of this because I’ve had a strong sense lately that life is short, and everyday is an adventure. I want to be bravely abandoning myself each day, and the most significant way that I can see to do that is to come before Jesus this second and say, “Jesus, here I am. Take and use my good parts, bad parts, and parts that I don’t know are there. You’ve brought me to today so I give today to you. The broken, bruised, whole, and healthy parts of my heart are your’s for the taking. Use me for Your glory. ~Amen”
“My Father, I abandon myself to You. Do with me as You will.
Whatever You may do with me, I thank You.
I am prepared for anything; I accept everything.
Provided Your will is fulfilled in me and in all
creatures, I ask for nothing more, my God.
I place my soul in You hands.
I give it to You, my God,
with all the love of my heart
because I love You.
And for me it is a necessity of love,
this gift of myself,
this placing of myself in Your hands
without reserve
in boundless confidence,
because You are my Father.” ~Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)