trust

This post is a bit longer than normal but it is gave me a different perspective on life. If only I could camp in this place…..

“Fourteenth-century theologian and mystic John Tauler prayed for eight years that God would send him a person who would teach him the true way of perfection. One day, while at prayer, he heard a voice from within telling him to go outside to the steps, and there he would meet his mentor. He obeyed without hesitation. On the church steps Tauler found a barefoot ragamuffin in rags, wounded and caked in blood.

Tauker greeted the man cordially. “Good morning, dear brother. May God give you a good day and grant you a happy life.”

“Sir”, replied the ragamuffin, “I do not remember ever having had a bad day.”

Stunned, Tauler asked him how that was possible, since sadness and grief are part of the human condition.

The beggar explained, “You wished me a good day, and I replied that I cannot recall ever having spent a bad day. You see, whether my stomach is full or I am famished with hunger, I praise God equally; when I am rebuffed and despised, I still thank God. My trust in God’s providence and his plan for my life is absolute, so there is no such thing as a bad day. Sir, you also wished me a happy life. I must insist that I am always happy for it would be untruthful to state otherwise. My experience of God has taught me that whatever He does must of necessity be good. Thus, everything that I receive from His loving hand or whatever He permits me to receive from the hands of others – be it prosperity or adversity, sweet or bitter – I accept with joy and see it as a sign of His favor. For many, many years now my first resolution each morning is to attach myself to nothing but the will of God alone. I have learned that the will of God is the love of God. And by the outpouring of His grace I have so merged my will with His that whatever He wills I will too. Therefore I have always been happy.”