I have kicked off the new year with a bible study focused on St. Paul and his remarkable transformation from Christian persecutor into Christian evangelist.

St. Paul’s life and his beautiful New Testament writings remind us that God’s deepest desire is to redeem and transform us into loving men and women (Ephesians 4: 22-24). To be transformed, we must be willing to surrender our own plans to God’s plans.

With God, surrendering is about drawing closer to Him — and trusting Him with the questions on our hearts. The closer we draw to God, the more we begin to see He has the answers we seek. And more often than not, we begin to realize that He has the answers we do not even understand we need.

The more we surrender to God, the more we begin to understand and see that His Will for all of us truly is Love.

Saints like Paul understand the joy of a life surrendered to God. Here is a beautiful poem — by the Medieval poet, Hafiz — that memorably describes that joy:

Tripping Over Joy

What is the difference
between your experience of Existence
and that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think

You have a thousand serious moves.
— Hafiz

I imagine Hafiz was smiling as he wrote this poem.

God loves us so much.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to be more like the saints, surrendering our plans to God in this new year. Help us to let go with a smile and let God select those intended moves that can be combined with His ideas to create the most goodness and joy. Amen.