As in Heaven

“…Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Matthew 6:10

I am bad at saying no. 

Although the most valuable currency of my life is my time, I usually don’t feel like I’m in control of it, whether because of others’ or my own expectations, or because I’m a little scatterbrained. 

What’s more, I have another toxic trait — I want to do everything, and I truly believe I can do anything I set my mind to. Not a great combination. I have a collection of books that is far-reaching in topic, and many of which I still haven’t read. But I’m so interested I could cry. I have hobbies I want to be good at, “Roman empires” on which I hyperfixate, and places I want to go, goals I want to achieve. I want to be a writer, but there are so many things I want to write about, I mainly just blog. I want to be a stay-at-home mom and work as a teacher, so I substitute at my kids’ school. I used to tell myself, “Choose your mountain and climb it.” Now, I’ve almost given up on that. For better or worse, I’ve acquiesced to being a jack of all trades.

When you are young, you’re obsessed with finding God’s will for your life as if there is one ultimate occupation and goal He has in store for you. I still feel like there is something ahead of me, but I’m not as concerned with figuring it out beforehand as I used to be.

This morning, I was thinking about what God’s will being done in Heaven looks like, and why Jesus thought it was important to ask for in prayer. We may not know a lot about what goes on in Heaven, but we do know God’s will is carried out. We also know the “living creatures” in His presence worship Him around the clock, singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

I think Jesus included this section of the Lord’s Prayer to align our hearts to His purposes, to submit to Him, to confess, “You are God and I am not. Your kingdom — not mine — come. Your will — not mine — be done. To You — not to us — be the glory.” The angels and heavenly beings that continually worship Him teach us a lesson about His will: it includes our beholding Him and adoring Him in His presence.

I’m trying to put myself in that headspace. His will being done in the heavenlies looks like worship. His will being done in my life should look like worship. So even though I’m bad at saying no, sometimes submitting to His will means giving up something good for the better portion — His presence.