Accept what you have been given.
As with all things in this life, we may begin with the material and physical things, but then move onward to the immaterial and spiritual things. If you have been given a job to do, or a particular schedule of shifts to work--accept them. If you have been given certain people as friends and family members--accept them. If you are out of work and been given time to help others or possibly work on a personal project; certain responsibilities that have been asked of you; inspirations to write, or create, to visit someone or call a long time friend--accept them. Whatever your situation in life may be--accept what you have been given. Even to the point if you are given insults and injustice--accept them.
We remember always that the first thing which St. Albert asked of us and that we have done in setting out upon this life is to elect a prior, that we have Christ, or the one he has chosen, as our prior and the One who has given us all that we have been given. It is from God that all that exists in our life has come and it is He who wishes and longs for the best things for us; that we would not be given anything that is not for our good and the good of others; that even in our sufferings and times of trial and difficulty, it is then that God is seeking to accomplish His best work in us and give us the most sacred, holy and valuable things; that we do not forget the Christ who hangs on the cross and the cup that he was given, the cup that he freely and fully accepted which raised him to Glory and gained salvation for the world.
We remember always that the first thing which St. Albert asked of us and that we have done in setting out upon this life is to elect a prior, that we have Christ, or the one he has chosen, as our prior and the One who has given us all that we have been given. It is from God that all that exists in our life has come and it is He who wishes and longs for the best things for us; that we would not be given anything that is not for our good and the good of others; that even in our sufferings and times of trial and difficulty, it is then that God is seeking to accomplish His best work in us and give us the most sacred, holy and valuable things; that we do not forget the Christ who hangs on the cross and the cup that he was given, the cup that he freely and fully accepted which raised him to Glory and gained salvation for the world.
This mysterious end, that the Son of God died for the forgiveness and remission of our sins, may remind us also that to accept what we have been given is yet another way that we serve and work for the good of others. There are times when we must accept a gift not for our own benefit, but so that others may have the joys and benefits of giving. When you refuse an offer of a gift--even if you believe that you are refusing out of kindness and righteousness--you are refusing them an act of goodness, you disallow an act of sacrifice and a chance for God’s love to be practiced in another person. Even Christ accepted the gift of the woman who wiped his feet with her tears, that he may not prevent her from such an act of love, nor deprive her soul of the work of being so close to the One she loved.
When we accept what has been given to us, however, we do not accept things so strictly as not to share or to keep them forever, a many are prone to think, and as though we are under the unspoken condition that accepting mean that it is to be used for our personal good and for our good alone. To accept what we have been given means simply this and nothing more: “To accept,” knowing also that we first renounced ownership of things so that we are accepting not for ourselves, but for God’s Kingdom--just as we have been given various gifts of the Spirit. That we have been given is also so that we might give at a time and in the place and to the one who will also be in later need. If you are given tickets to a convert that you may not enjoy, accept them and pass them to a friend, or if there is no one for you to give them to, attend to the event. You never know what you may experience, who you may happen to meet or what may come in the future--perhaps by accepting these tickets to some thing that we do not enjoy, our friend may give us tickets to another even that we will greatly enjoy, when if we had refused the first time, they would not offer the second.
Finally, it is worth also reminding ourselves that we accept what we are given not because we rely on our wisdom, but on His Wisdom. It is from the Wisdom of God that we are given and in what we have confidence that He knows what we need even before we have asked, or may even know.
Accept whatever you may have been given, that you may show love to your neighbor who desires to give, live in the humility of one who seeks perfection and walk in the faith of the One you love.
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