IS THIS WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO BE?

Continuing my reflection on this prayer of Saint Terese of Liseaux: "Today may there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content and give thanks in all situations. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

Am I really meant to be here where I am now? I mean, did God somehow preordain that on this day in my life I was to be where I now find myself? No. If that were true, then I would have no free will. If our lives have been laid out for us from the moment of our conception to the moment of our death, then we would not be responsible for anything that we say or do. We would have been programed from the start by God.

As wonderful as that might sound or even seem when we have to explain why we have just done something we know was wrong, we know no one will buy the excuse that “God made me do it”. We can’t even buy it as much as we ourselves would like to. We know we did it and we know we did it of our own free will.

Even so, are there not times in our lives when we ask, “Why am I here? What am I doing here?” Those are the times in our lives when our lives are not going the way we would like them to go, when we find ourselves in situations where we would rather not be, where we would like to be somewhere else, anywhere else but where we are right now.

We’ve all been there. Some of us may even be there right now wondering if this is where we were meant to be, trying to trust in God that this is where God wants us to be, where God means for us to be at this moment in our lives. The hard truth, of course, is that where we are is where we are. As much as we might wish to be somewhere else, we are here where we are and not where we might wish to be.

That’s where the trust comes in. The trust is not so much that where we are is where God meant for us to be so much as it is that we trust that God will give us all that we need to do what God would have us to do where we now are. It is more than making the most of a bad situation, although that is what we are to try to do. It is more than that, much, much more than that.

What it is accepting the fact that we are where we are, exactly where we should be, not dwelling on how we got here or even whose fault it was, but trusting that we have a God-given purpose, whatever that purpose, and to find and fulfill that purpose as best we can, knowing that God will give us all we need to do so. Even more, might not peace within begin by trusting that we are exactly where we are meant to be?