'God ought to be able to do anything.' (Alcoholics Anonymous, 158:1)
'He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the
treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said,
"Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for
they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in
all the living that she had." '
'On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and
direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything
necessary.' (Alcoholics Anonymous,
158:2)
'the condition of God’s blessing is absolute surrender of all
into His hands' (Absolute Surrender,
Andrew Murray)
When I do not like the experiences I am getting out of life—life
that is given to everyone to do with as they wish—the only person I can blame
is the manager. If I have been managing, that manager is me. I have to fire me,
and everything that goes with me—the attitudes, the ideas, and the behaviour
that flow from those. It is no good negotiating parts and portions. This is not
the World Trade Organisation. We are not doing a deal where we have to make
sure we 'get our own'. The problem is precisely that: we have been 'getting our own'. Instead, this is about absolute surrender. This
is about getting up in the morning and saying to myself, 'I do not want to run
my life today: I do not want fantasy, nostalgia, fear, resentment, and selfishness
to run my life today.' Why? Because I do not like the results, and, as the book
Alcoholics Anonymous tells us, we are
sticklers for facts and results (48:2). So I continue: 'God, you are in charge.
I am not. I am just here to serve. Give me a list of things to do today. Show
me the spirit in which to do them.'
Sometimes the only advice that can be given is, 'for heaven's
sake, give it up. Give it all up. Stop trying to work it out. Just look for the
next indicated action and let God and life carry you forward to where God and
life want to take you.'
Why, after all, would you not want to surrender to this:
'He is the Fountain of life, the only Source of existence and
power and goodness, and throughout the universe there is nothing good but what
God works.' (Absolute Surrender,
Andrew Murray)