An RMA* to God

* RMA stands for return material authorization.

Today in my devotions, I read the “Take and Receive Prayer” written by St. Ignatius:

Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Something else I’d read earlier was about aging and how we lose different abilities as we get older. This reference to losing things as we age came to my mind as I read this prayer. And I thought about my friend with ALS who says the ALS community says, “ALS stands for Always Losing Something.” And people with Alzheimer’s or dementia lose their memory, too.

We think of losing these things. In the prayer, it says, “I return it.” What if instead of all the things we’re losing, we think of it instead as us returning those things to the Lord?

Here’s what I wrote in my journal:

God, here’s my ability to easily squat down, hang out, then easily get back up. It was great. Thanks. Here it is, back to you.

I could think of lots of things like that:

Lord, here’s my ability to sing the high notes of the songs and hymns I love. I loved singing along in the car, being part of a choir, joining my church family in congregational singing. I still enjoy singing an octave lower but sometimes it’s frustrating. But here you go. My high-note-singing, back to you. I’m glad I had it as long as I did.

….

God, thanks for my ability to quickly memorize things. It came in really handy for studying for tests. Also for verses and poems I liked being able to recite to myself later. Seems like most of my memorizing days are over. Good thing there’s Google! Thanks for Google, too.

How about you?