Doing God's Will Wholeheartedly

St. Paul speaks of obedience to the Ephesians: children obeying their parents, and slaves obeying their masters.  Slavery was an accepted practice at the time, and while distasteful to us, the analogy of the obedience of slaves to their masters as a model for service to Christ still applies to us.  The phrase which gives it added significance, "doing the will of God from the heart", (Eph 6:6), is the key to entering through the "narrow gate", which only few choose to do. (cf. Lk 13: 22-23).  Adhering to the will of Christ with a willing heart,  or wholeheartedly, as some translations have it, makes the difference.  Our model for this is, of course,  Mary, who accepted the invitation to Divine Motherhood, with a willing heart and gave herself wholeheartedly all her life, and continues that role today as Mother of the Church, as Our Good Mother.  Rather than look upon the laws and rules of the Church as tests of willpower and endurance, we might think of embracing them from our hearts as a means of achieving greater intimacy with our loving God.  We might even learn to embrace the will of an employer or manager from the heart,  our as spouses talk over our plans or ideas and then embrace them from the heart as a key to greater harmony in the workplace or the family.
Bro. Rene