Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.
Surrender – to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another: to give (oneself) up into the power of another.
To surrender means to give everything to God. Too often though, we try to negotiate. We are willing to give up things, but, not the right to determine what those things are. We want to be in a position to do an ongoing cost analysis of various kinds of behavior. We negotiate the cost of discipleship, “I will do this, if You will…”, “I will obey, if…”. This isn’t surrender, this isn’t obedience.
What you’re saying to God is “You are my consultant, not my Lord.”
“Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”” Luke 9:62
Some, even when they want to surrender to the Lord get hung up on their past. We think, “You know I have some ugly things in my past. I have to get my life in order before I can do this.” This is something we must abandon. I mean, how are we going to get our life in order without God?
Surrender is complete only when we’ve abandoned our old life. Only when we say, “You are the Lord and God of my life, my whole life” can we truly surrender.
This prayer of St. Charles de Foucauld always is difficult for me. “Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul..”.
Are you ready to fully surrender your life, your whole life to the Father? He isn’t looking to negotiate. The Father wants it all.