BEYOND TWEAKING

As usual, Matthew Kelly provides modern slants on traditional Catholic matters such as examining one’s conscience, seeking repentance and personal transformation.  Let’s look at Chapter 22 of Kelly’s Rediscover Jesus which we distributed at the beginning of Lent.   Here are a few passages from the book with some thoughtful questions we have added in italics.  Use them for your 24 Hours with the Lord reflections.

“God has a mighty, awesome, wonderful transformation in mind for you. . . . God’s preference is for collaboration over intervention.”

What does Kelly mean:  God prefers “collaboration over intervention?”

 

On Transformation vs. Tweaking

“. . . no, we don’t necessarily want our lives transformed. Sure, we want some tweaking, but not transformation. This desire for tweaking is selective and selfish, while transformation is total and selfless.”

Can you think of a time when, in a relationship with another person, you chose transformation over tweaking?  How different was the result?

“Once we abandon the transformation . . . , our focus falls on tweaking; our spirituality becomes mediocre and very self-centered. Then we start praying for tweaking:  Dear God, please tweak this … and please tweak that … and tweak my spouse … and tweak my spouse again because it didn’t take the first time … and tweak my kids … and tweak my boss … and tweak my colleagues at work … and tweak my son’s soccer coach … and tweak our pastor … and tweak the politicians … We pray for tweaking—and then we wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers. The reason is simple: God is not in the business of tweaking. He’s in the business of transformation.”

Kelly says that “most of us have never prayed for transformation.”  He suggests this prayer:

“Loving Father, Here I am. I trust that you have an incredible plan for me. Transform me. Transform my life. Everything is on the table. Take what you want to take and give what you want to give. Transform me into the person you created me to be, so I can live the life you envision for me. I hold nothing back; I am 100 percent available. How can I help? Amen.”

What, if anything, is holding me back from praying this prayer?  What seems to be hardest for me to accept about letting God transform me and my life?