Offering Up Your Inconveniences

A great way to make this Lent even better spiritually is to offer
up not only something you chose, but also to offer up your
inconveniences. Give God those moments when you’re stuck in
traffic, or when someone says something bitter to you, or when you
have to run an errand you just don’t want to run. Offer up those
inconveniences that you didn’t choose, and God will make you
stronger in them. Intentionally receive these moments, and let them
provide the opportunity to die to self. The Lenten commitment we
chose is an active mortification, but these inconveniences you
didn’t ask for are passive mortifications. They’re powerful because
we have no control over them, and yet we can have control over what
we do with those moments. Accepting these passive mortifications is
a way for us to grow in freedom, because through them we learn to
accept and live graciously in the moments that would otherwise have
control over us. In the words of St. Paul: “Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is
lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is,
the church” (Colossians 1:24). For full episode shownotes, visit
AscensionPress.com
(http://media.ascensionpress.com/podcast/offering-up-your-inconveniences/)