Obedience

The subject of this entry is also my lesson for Lent.  I not only must learn to be more obedient in my job (which I think I am doing well at); I not only must be more obedient at church (and I don't think that was ever really a problem, but it doesn't hurt to get better), but I must also be more obedient to God, as Jesus was obedient to His Father and even His mother, the Theotokos.
Remember the story in Luke 2 about the 12 year old Jesus teaching at the Temple?  I take less of Jesus being wise at a young age from these passages (verses 43-50) and more from the aftermath (verses 51-52).  In those last two verses, Luke writes:
"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men."
It seems to me that for Jesus to advance in wisdom, He had to be obedient not only to His Father, but to Mary and Joseph also.  It seems to me that because He made Himself obedient, He advanced in grace.  Since my goal in becoming Orthodox (part of my goal, anyhow) was to obtain more grace, it has become obvious to me after reading this chapter of Luke that obedience is important.
If we are not obedient, it says more about our will than our wisdom.  If we are not obedient, we put ourselves at risk of many troubles, from the spiritual to the cultural to the criminal.  If we are not obedient, we run a risk of an overinflated ego dominating our sense of self, which only distorts that sense.  When we decide not to be obedient, we deny that there are powers more important than us; our employer (who can find someone else to do our job), our parents (we are always to honor them, provided they lead us not into sin) our spouse (who we are supposed to submit to), the government (we can find ourselves in jail), but most importantly, God (and we know the ramifications there).
Out of all of those I mention, however, only God shows us mercy beyond compare: our parents can be merciful, but they may also never "wipe the slate clean", our employer may give us a "severance package, but we'll never be working for them again, let alone get a good reference from them, and the government?  I won't mention those possible ramifications lest I ask for trouble.
I don't think I have been outwardly as rebellious as of late as I was in my younger days, and perhaps even just a few months ago.  However, I shouldn't be allowed to judge how obedient I am, for it is not me who I need to become more obedient to.
My prayer shall be thus: Heavenly Father, as you are all knowing and all powerful, show me once more, your unworthy and willing servant, your mercy and compassion, and please help me to serve you better, to obey your commandments more fully, so that I may be deemed as worthy as possible of having Your grace bestowed upon me, that I may humbly speak of Your great goodness and everlasting love for man, whom You have created.  May your love and mercy reward me with tears of repentence, that I may better serve You and dare call upon You to worship You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and ever unto the ages of ages.  Amen.