SPIRITUALLY SHIFTING INTO NEUTRAL
“I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned. – Daniel 13:22
As a native Californian, I had my first experience getting stuck driving in the snow this winter in Colorado. Though I had the false impression I could reach its apex successfully, the hill nearby my house was just steep and slushy enough to prove otherwise. I quickly learned after several yards, that my car could simply ascend no further. I was stuck in place, quite literally spinning my wheels, and the more effort I exerted attempting forward motion, the worse things got.
In this moment, the best solution to getting “unstuck,” confirmed by some friendly passersby, was to put my vehicle in neutral and slowly and carefully go backwards down the hill. I had to stop trying, stop exerting energy, and trust gravity and the advice of others. I had to go backwards in order to move forward again.
In today’s first reading, the falsely accused Susanna faced death and knew no personal tenacity or forward effort of her own could change her fate. So, how did she spiritually “shift into neutral”? Simply put, she cried aloud to the Lord. St. Ignatius of Loyola cautions in times of desolation to never change what you had decided in consolation. As a “God-fearing woman,” Susanna already had a preexisting relationship with the Lord, assumingly filled with some moments of consolation. The voices of desolation could have tempted her to despair and turn from the Lord, but instead she chose to seek the Lord as she had throughout her life.
At times, God asks us to exert less self-propelled, stubborn-forward motion in order to surrender and return to Him. Can we abandon our will and trust Him? I have learned that in hopeless moments, it is the only way to move forward.
Where do you feel stuck spiritually? What do you need to surrender to the Lord? Is there anything you have decided in a moment of consolation that you need to recall today?
Patty Hussey