OT

TERESITA TANSECO-CRUZ

I hear “OT” and instantly think somebody did extra time at work. Then I noticed that “OT” could also mean Ordinary Time in the Liturgical calendar.  So I thought of God and ordinary time.

God in his ordinary time attends to all the details of my life, knows my every joy, struggle, longing,  failing or complaint ( Seriously Lord, did you send me this?! ) and when I cry “help!”  he is already always on board, even when I consider some prayers unanswered.  Then there are his surprises – making events come together nicely when I least expect it (“ A blessing in disguise!” or “ What a coincidence !” ) or times when he is smack at the center managing the whole show (” Divine intervention, surely!”).  The bottom line?  God continually loves, comforts, forgives, and heals me, giving me not necessarily what I wish for but always – what I need, what I was made for.  That is an Ordinary Time for him because that’s what he does, any given moment.

On the other hand, I do Overtime quite diligently, spending extra hours on looking good to others (or in the mirror) or thinking nobody can take care of this. Still, I can help. If the biggest fear happens or she really hurt me or how dare he underestimate me, or this is so hopeless or sad or hard or stressful or inconvenient or stretching my patience, ad infinitum – that sometimes I imagine God at the end of the day, palms open, holding graces he was saving for me except I just zoomed past him so fast in my “ Overtime roadrunner” speed that I missed it all.  Then I wonder why he didn’t answer some of my prayers.

Slow down.  Cut that Overtime!  Then, in the quiet openness of heart and spirit, gratefully and humbly receive all that the God of extraordinary love gives you every day, in his Ordinary Time.