Let Him In, Please

"We can have faith, yet keep G-d out of our lives." 12 Steps & 12 Traditions - Step Three, page 40

How do we let Him in? How do we "turn our will and lives over to the care of G-d as we understood Him?"

There is a famous Jewish quote: "Open up for Me an opening (doorway) the size of the tip of a pin, and I will open for you an opening the size of the gates of the Temple." G-d is there, here, everywhere, waiting for us to let Him in. But mostly, we are too stubborn, wanting our own way, pushing for our own plan to happen -- doing this so blindly, that we don't make space for Him.

I think that most of my own anxiety and stress comes from having my plans thwarted, and then, feeling frustrated, I get angry or even panicky.

What a difference it makes to just let go, and to say with conviction: "Things are happening just as G-d wants them to. Whatever is happening now is actually and ultimately for my best, even though I don't see this clearly right now."

If I trust, if I truly believe in this, then everything shifts at that point; there is no more reason to fight or struggle against reality. It's not my way, but clearly, my way wasn't the best course for life to take right now -- since that's not the way it turned out.

Letting G-d in means allowing myself to connect to Him, as well as recognizing His Hand in my daily life. It means turning to Him with my problems and sorrows, with my gratitude and with my joy. It means making Him an active and a central part of my life. It means bending my will so that I do not fight for my way, but rather I accept His way as the best way. It means allowing myself to be a tool for His work.

For today, may I have the willingness, the wisdom and the strength to do all this.