The Lot Marked Out for Me

The lot marked out for me is my delight:
welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me!

From Psalm 16 come these words which impute the love we must have for our destinies.

The hermit ponders anew beauty of God's will, of simply staying on the straight and narrow path--the one God has marked for the individual soul. A certain warmth and easiness comes when one accepts boundaries and direction, of whatever that entails. Path signposts for the hermit are humility, hiddenness, obscurity, nothingness.

All destinies divinely marked out find delight in the following. Delight does not mean an absence of trials. Following Christ always includes picking up the cross daily. There is delight, however, in humbly and simply doing the Lord's will, step by step. The more self-will is trompled underfoot, the more delightful is the way, and the heritage--the destiny--becomes a welcoming existence.

The hermit wrote one more message to the young priest who has left his lot marked out for him--or taken a temporary detour, we pray. The hermit felt it fair-play to remind the man and his woman friend, that what we do (and think) are not hidden from others. Even intimacies are not hidden from supernatural viewings. This fact may not stop our sinning, but it should give us moment to ponder afresh the omniscience of God and the favors He grants to His emmissaries. We do not tred the path alone or invisible, even if in temporal solitude.

Yesterday the hermit completed painting the picket fence. The two young men came to help screw the sections into the posts--only to discover that inches were not included for the end boards to be fastened. Now we are sawing and making adjustments. It is a shame, and the hermit is stretched to embrace more patience and perseverance: the offering coincides with the patience and perseverance for the young priest and the woman. It, too, is not a done deal, not an easy fit, and needs adjusting and changing. The results will be visible somewhat, but in time one becomes accustomed to the error and the correction. Yes, there will be a correction in the deviation from the lot marked out for both of them, just as there will be corrections made in the fence. The fence will bear the consequences of imperfections; no way around it.

Souls bear consequences of actions, of going against the lot marked out, of veering from welcoming the heritage that is given as gift by God. Yet, one can simply step back onto the narrow path and embrace the destiny. It should be so simple.

Why do we make it difficult?

A glance at evil, at the devil, at Adam and Eve in the Garden--these help us comprehend that for various reasons, we mortals tend to be convinced and to convince others, that the lot marked out somehow should be enlarged and widened to encompass our own desires.

Rather, in stability and simplicity do we place one foot in front of the other, not looking about to embrace other lots marked out for others, or not marked out for anyone in some cases.