Frustrations

To hope is to risk frustration. Therefore, make up your mind to risk frustration.---Thomas Merton from his work, "New Seeds of Contemplation"

 

How many times have we been frustrated in this life?! Some more than others, but we all know frustration well. According to Merton, it means that we are people of hope. And like everything else in our lives, our hopes must be guided by faith. When our hope is in the Lord to do His work in us, we will experience frustration as we learn to trust Him completely. There will come times when God seems so far away from us, as if He is toying with our emotions. We will think that we are all alone and darkness is the only light we see. Silence will be the only sound we hear. The Saints say that this is when God is nearest to us.  It makes no sense, but to them, the dark times meant more to their union with God than any other time. Our Beloved does not toy with us, He is for us always. In every frustrated moment, He is loving us madly! So let us hope again and again and again, no matter how many times our dreams fail, or our spiritual growth seems dried up. When all seems lost, hope again! Yes, our frustrations will grow, but with God's help and grace, we will too.

 

wkm

 

Thomas Merton in his study