Let’s Take It Nice and Easy

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S the opening line of an old Frank Sinatra love song. Now you know what generation I belong to. I was struck by it recently when I also read in the gospel some words Christ told his disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” (Jn 14,1)

I believe this Sinatra line can be a good motto of our life as long as it is anchored properly on Christ. We know that life has much more to offer than what we can manage to handle. But having that attitude of trust on God’s providence would truly help us avoid the pitfalls of worries, anxieties and the like. In spite of whatever, we can manage to have a light and happy life.

There’s really no reason to be too worried and anxious when we encounter some difficulty in our life. In fact, we have every reason to be confident and at peace, focused on what we are supposed to do. And that’s because we are always in God’s hands.

Whatever situation we may be in, we can be sure that God will always provide for what is truly needed by us, and it may not be what we want. We just have to trust him completely for he knows better than we do, and what we want may not be what we need. It may not even be what is good for us.

The story of Abraham’s complete trust in God is a great lesson for us. (Gen 22,1-19) When God tested him by asking him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, he readily agreed. We already know how the story ended—a happy ending it was—and what great lesson he learned from that test.

Abraham named the place where he was supposed to sacrifice his son, “Yahweh-yireh” (the Lord provides), for he was provided in the last minute with a ram instead of his son for the sacrifice.

God always knows what to do in any situation we may find ourselves in. He may allow some evil to come to us, an evil that can do us no harm unless we let it, but God knows how to draw good from evil.

Ours is simply to trust God completely, and out of that trust, we should always feel confident and courageous to do what we are supposed to do. We should not waste our time lamenting and feeling like a victim, or wallowing in doubts, passivity and self-pity.

We have to remove ourselves from that state mentioned by St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians: “children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.” (4,14) We have to move. There are a lot of things to do.

Yes, there will always be challenges, problems, difficulties that humanly speaking may be impossible for us to tackle. But as long as we have trust in God, we can sincerely echo St. Paul’s words: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) These words have been verified to be true in the lives of all the saints, especially the martyrs.

We should assume the mind of Christ who, when he fell a number of times on his way to Calvary, never let go of the cross. We have to learn to take refuge in our dignity as children of God who are assured of God’s help. We have to strengthen our sense of being children of God who always takes care of us.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com