June 11, 2018

Fiat?

I remember hearing the word and pretending I knew what people were talking about. Hardly anyone I knew ever used the word so I assumed most of us were clueless as to its definition, which meant I was not alone. But I have learned, over time, that there are times we must be alone in whatever state we are in, otherwise we rarely grow as human beings. 

This "fiat" thing seemed simple once I learned that it was Mary's "yes" to God: "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word". Yea, not as simple as I thought. The baggage I brought with me to this point  involved wanting things the way I wanted things; whether that meant where I lived, how I dined, the people I hung out with, the responsibilities I wanted or didn't want, and so on. The trail seemed endless and truly giving my own fiat to God took much longer than I thought. 

To release myself from this trail of "wants", I prayed for God's help in doing so, which by the way, is pretty painful because this fiat thing takes a lot of releasing oneself from oneself! However, just like the Prodigal Son, our Father's embrace is the love we crave, the real wants we want. This world He created, in this "time" He gave us, is not static but an opportunity for communion with humanity and Heaven. Our fiats help open up a path for us to participate in that communion.

We will struggle with our fiat's everyday and that is okay. Our fiat is a free gift to God without strings attached. No agendas and no contracts. We will struggle at times to release control but it is this struggle, this tension of our human nature and the longing to rest in the One who created us, that hones us and makes us pliable for God's design. 

The picture above is from: https://www.etsy.com/listing/541397113/marys-fiat-car-magnet-35-x-35-in