I have been reflecting on acceptance for the last week or so. Here are my thoughts: What circumstances necessitate acceptance? - Change in our circumstances - Call from God - Epiphany (realization of some falsehood we are holding on to, new awareness of some truth about who we are or about our life, realization that we are fighting the inevitable) What prompts us to move towards acceptance? - realization - awareness - awakening What must happen to allow acceptance? - making a decision for change -letting go of false perceptions, cultural messages, and our need to control the outcome of a given situation What is acceptance and how does it differ from resignation? Acceptance: the quality or state of being accepted [to receive willingly; to endure without protest or reaction; to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable ; to recognize as true : BELIEVE; to make a favorable response to; to agree to undertake (a responsibility)] or acceptable [welcome, pleasing] -- Definitions from www.webster.com Acceptance connotes hope. It is active not passive. Resignation: an act or instance of resigning something : SURRENDER; a formal notification of resigning; the quality or state of being resigned : SUBMISSIVENESS Resignation connotes a lack of hope as well as passivity. May be an indicator of not owning one's power. What is the fruit of acceptance? Peace and Joy. Joy can occur in the midst of difficult circumstances while happiness is dependent on our circumstances. Joy [a state of well-being and contentment] Happiness [a pleasurable or satisfying experience] … [Read more...]
Peace
Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone... much less upon one's own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is. - Author Unknown … [Read more...]
Daily Life
Let us remember that the life in which we ought to be interested is "daily" life. We can, each of us, only call the present time our own...Our Lord tells us to pray for today, and so he prevents us from tormenting ourselves about tomorrow. It is as if [God] were to say to us: "[It is I] who gives you this day [and] will also give you what you need for this day. [It is I] who makes the sun to rise. [It is I] who scatters the darkness of night and reveals to you the rays of the sun." Gregory of Nyssa, On the Lord's Prayer Staying focused on today is often hard for us to do. It is a challenge to prevent our minds from moving into all sorts of imaginings about tomorrow and the future. All of this future focus, interfers with our ability be present in the present and causes us to fritter away today with possibilities that may or may not materialize at some point in the future. Jesus (in his Sermon on the Mount) reminds us, "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" (Matt 6:27, NRSV) The constant chasing after and worrying about can actually increase our stress levels and cause health related issues which, in the end, can actually shorten our span of days! Thankfully, Jesus, calls us to live differently. We are called to live trusting in the provision of God. Trusting in the provision of God is about seeking balance and striving to let go of our propensity to control the events and people in our lives. Jesus teaches us, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. " (Matt 6:34, NRSV) In Twelve Step groups, there is the constant admonition to live "One Day at a Time". There is great blessing for us in living from this perspective - putting our future concerns in God's hands and moving forward fully engaged in today's business. This is, however, definitely not work for the faint of heart! This business of "daily" life. Can we trust God for provision and let go of our … [Read more...]
Basking in Belovedness
You are God's Beloved. Being God's Beloved is not about who you are nor about what you do (or don't do). Being God's Beloved is about who God is. You are loved. Bask in your Belovedness. "You did not choose me but I chose you." (John 15:16, NRSV) … [Read more...]
Joy
"In A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis tells the story of an experience that his wife, Joy, once had: Long ago, before we were married, [Joy] was haunted all one morning as she went about her work with the obscure sense of God (so to speak) "at her elbow," demanding her attention. And of course, not being a perfected saint, she had the feeling that it would be a question, as it usually is, of some unrepented sin or tedious duty. At last she gave in - I know how one puts it off - and faced Him. But the message was "I want to give you something," and instantly she entered into joy. Left to our own devices, we all tend to "put God off," not realizing that God "wants to give us something." We have inherited the ancient tendency to forsake God, the mysterious "fountain of living waters" that we can neither posess nor control, and put our trust instead in "broken cisterns that can hold not water" (Jer 2:13). ... "We all may need to be reminded - perhaps rather strongly sometimes - that our Lord is, paradoxically, both a jealous and an extravagant Lover." -- from "Unfailing Treasure: Lost and Found" by Debora Smith Douglas, Weavings, Volume XX, Nov/Dec 2005 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11, NRSV) … [Read more...]
