Fr Jim Cogley
One of the great keys to happiness that is woven through the Bible is the importance of surrender or letting go. This concept strikes at the very heart of our egocentricity and so is what the vast majority of us run from, and don’t want to hear about. It is the necessary dying of the seed that must happen before it can begin to bear fruit. It is what in many traditions is called ‘the dying before we die’ that is so necessary if we are to live from our true selves. At the end of the day, the extent we have lived a life of surrender and abandonment to divine providence will determine our overall satisfaction with our lives. This is when it will become clear, not so much what we did for God in our lives, but more what He did through us, because of our lives being yielded to His will. The supreme example of this is the ‘Yes’ of Mary in her encounter with the Angel Gabriel.
There is a verse in Sacred Scripture that says, ‘No one can lay hold of anything that does not come from above’. Having reflected deeply on this verse and the truth it contains I deem it to be one of the most challenging and yet one of the greatest secrets of happiness. I could rephrase it in terms of God always reserves the best for those who leave the choice to Him, but this doesn’t quite do it justice. In life we are programmed to go after so many things. In our pursuit of happiness, we believe that this that or the other (one) can make us happy only to find that the pursuit was far more exciting than the realization. The above verse suggests that it is only in letting go of what we want the most that leaves us free to receive with open hands all that God wants for us.
Many books and magazines expound keys to happiness but tend to leave out the one that is most fundamental – following the Will of God for one’s life. Christ said that the one who does the Will of his Father is closer to him than even direct family members. What an astonishing truth that is, and there surely can be no greater secret to happiness! There is absolutely nothing in life that we can claim as our own that does not come from God, with one exception, and that is our will. This alone He has placed in our power that we can give to Him as uniquely ours. Many of us will go a long way astray and end up with our lives in total disarray, before we realize our need for a higher power to manage our lives.
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