In my previous post (Lent: The Serenity Prayer: Time), I wrote about how we have two different types of time and how that helps us draw closer to God and find peace.

The next three lines of the Serenity Prayer are intriguing to me:

Accepting Hardship as the Pathway to Peace
Taking, as He Did, the Sinful World as It Is, Not as I Would Have It
Trusting That He Will Make All Things Right

When you first read the line “Accepting Hardship as the Pathway to Peace,” I know I first think, “How can hardships be a pathway to peace?” But as Hudson points out in the first bit (and I know we all know), “Life can be hard. None of us escapes pain or grief or loneliness.” (71) I would change can be hard to is hard, but that is just semantics. Hudson goes on to point out that you never really know what is happening because some people are really good at hiding the hard stuff.

The whole point of the practical part of this chapter is there are two ways to deal with the hard parts of life. The first path is avoidance behaviors (read the book for those because they don’t lead to peace, and we all do them and are friends with them way too much). The second path is God’s path that leads to peace. I love how Hudson puts it: “God is deeply present in all the facets of our lives, even when they are painful.” (75)

We are in Holy Week right now. Jesus walked through the highest of highs and experienced the lowest moments, deepest hurts, death, and back to the New Birth through resurrection. He can walk with us, hold us, comfort us, and know our pain when we turn it over and want that support. I don’t know why we think God won’t understand or doesn’t want to be with us.

How can we remember God is with us? Find a person who is willing to be a companion (a person who walks with you and doesn’t try to fix you). Be gentle with yourself, and when you feel like you want to be rough, go do something creative or have a cup of tea to slow yourself down, giving yourself time. Through such times God has opportunity to meet us and bless us.

The next line is “Taking, as He Did, the Sinful World as It Is, Not as I Would Have It.” I was not surprised to see the discussion begin with the notion we live in a world with awful headlines. Personally, there is so much hate I stop reading and listening to the news at different times just to stay positive. Hudson then moved to one of my favorite bible verses: John 3:17. I know most of you saw John 3 and you thought it would be verse 16, but I always think you have to add 17 and 18 because they are so rich. What Hudson says is, “even though the condition of the world must break God’s heart, God does not condemn it…God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son to point an accusing finger or to tell the world how bad it was. He came to help, to restore, to heal.” (80) That is a big point, and I think we often miss that Jesus came not to judge but “to overcome evil with good.” (81)

I challenge you to read Hudson’s book for the practical response for this line. For all you Wesleyans out there, it can be summed up by saying, “Do all the Good you can.”

“Trusting That He Will Make All Things Right” is the last line for this blog. We talked about how life is hard, and when life is hard, trusting God to make things “right” or use the situation for good is hard to see or think about. But remember, God is with us in all parts of our lives. We must learn to trust God, even when it’s difficult.

Trust=Faith. Hudson tells us, “We have to realize that genuine faith in God comes as a Gift.” (90) When we realize faith is a gift, we tend to think we don’t need to do anything, but we need to put ourselves practically in the path of trusting God, and Hudson gives us ways to help us learn how to put us on the path.

1. Get to know who you think God is to you.

Ask yourself hard questions about God and be truthful in your answers.
Find a person (Spiritual Director/Companion) to walk with you in discerning who you understand God is to you.

2. Spend time with true believers.

You know the difference between a believer and Sunday morning pew-filler.
Spend time together- eating meals, going for coffee, hanging out, not just in bible study.

3. Put your faith to work.