Submission To The Present Moment

Abandonment to Divine Providence, or submission to the present moment, which is our utter dependence upon the will of God, is not expectantly to await, in idleness (which turns to sloth), the falling of graces from heaven, -- but, cheerfully, to receive them; for they are always upon us.

The holy impulse is a grace, but so also is the space which precedes and follows closely upon it. True patience, then, is not waiting for some particular occurrence, but attentively perceiving the divine action in all occurrences; unconditionally and without distinction.

God is known by His absence as surely as He is known by His presence; so that what we call His absence is only the semblance of His absence, and a subtler suggestion of His presence. Our longing to receive Him is but a more mysterious, an indirect, form of our acknowledgment of Him; and, so, another way of receiving Him.

Curiously, when He appears not to act, it must be that His will is already accomplished.

Truly, if we look for Him in every circumstance, we cannot fail to discover Him; but, if we attempt, by our own cleverness, to anticipate the conditions of His coming, we will not find Him in the conditions by which He presently imparts Himself.

The Lord is always manifesting Himself in accordance with the most perfect spiritual laws. Our place is simply to recognize this miracle, and thereby give place to Him.

Because that is His will for us, His will is therefore most completely realized and accomplished, not in the various shapes by which it outwardly gives itself, but, in the uniform receptivity which welcomes and makes way for them, regardless of their differing appearances.