So many things are beyond our control, it is little wonder that action hero movies are so prevalent nowadays.

 

Who wouldn’t want to be powerful and able to have an impact against the evil in the world? Although evil has been around from the beginning of humankind, it seems able today to vibrate farther out from its source with fewer limitations. 

 

Even if we are blessed not to have our lives turned upside down from wars or other large-scale horrors, most all of us have personal trials — caused usually by other people, disease, natural disasters or our own inner demons. Such challenges can cause great damage and heartache even if they don’t make the evening news.

 

So what is a follower of Jesus to do? Watch Iron Man or Wonder Woman movies and wish upon a star? 

 

As Christians, we can do so much better than that. 

 

True, the Almighty God whom we love and seek to serve is noted for His reluctance to flex His power. Helping sinners repent and turn to Him takes precedence over smiting them. We all should be grateful for His patience, because all of us mess up along the way with wrong-headed action or with inaction, adding to the total volume of suffering and sorrow in the world.

 

Developing a grateful heart for God’s gentle composure can help us work with Him this Lent and beyond. 

 

Of course, such giving of our sorrows over to Him will not provide the instant gratification that a comic book superhero might experience as he or she discovers and tests their superpowers. But walking with God does make us stronger inside. And there is a surprising freedom in that.

 

As we pray, fast and give alms to help ourselves open to God’s grace, we’ll be better able to let go of desires for revenge or for power over the things and people that trouble us. We can expect that He will call us instead to small steps taken with love.

 

Even our most hidden acts done in tune with the will of God can send healing vibrations out into the world. The simplest kindnesses — smiling at a stranger or holding open a door — can be a way for us to contribute to His work and deal an “under the radar” impact on evil. A gentle response to an enemy, well, that might, with God’s grace, move a mountain. Or two.

 

A lovely moment in the movie “The Hobbit” attempts to explain how this works. The scene has the wizard Gandalf explaining to the elven queen Galadriel why he chose the little hobbit Bilbo to accompany the rough-and-ready dwarf company as they battle giant spiders and orcs and a shapeless evil.

 

Gandalf notes that the head wizard, Saruman, “believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.”

 

The reason such “simple acts” have that effect is because God’s grace works through them. Of ourselves, well, we can do nothing apart from Christ, as He says when describing Himself as the vine and us as branches. (John 15:1-8)

 

St. Paul speaks of something even more mysterious than the power of everyday kindness and love. Jesus told him not to ask for a particular “thorn” to be removed because, “My grace is sufficient for you, for (my) power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)

 

Now that is real power! God’s grace has the might to actually work even better within our imperfections. We put our trust in the right place when we place it in the One who does such great things in ways that don’t resort to grandiosity.

 

That is what we all have to do — trust Him — because we all are mostly powerless. Our Almighty God overcomes evil every day in relentlessly-gentle ways. He’s in it for the long haul, wanting to give each person every chance to embrace the good and reject evil.

 

His is that deeper power — mysterious and stronger even than the gifts wielded by our fictional super heroes.

 

Let us place our sorrows into His hands this Lent.