Thank You Very Sweet

The goal of yoga is to quiet the mind so that you can sit still in the presence of God.  I realize this is what I had been doing in all of my searchings: when I sat around the fire with the Mayans in Guatemala, when I sat in the sweat lodge with the Mexicas in Central Mexico, when I sit in the sauna at the Korean spa in Edison, go to acupuncture, practice yoga..  It has all been to quiet this spinning mind so that I can sit in God’s presence,

again.

It happened in the midst of tragedy that I stopped controlling for a moment.  When Kesner died.  I stopped for a moment and I felt a profound sense of being held.  In tragedy this happens, they say.  Tragedy begets deep spiritual experiences. I was held. Silenced. 

And I’ve been looking for that freedom ever since.

It comes more easily now with practice.  Daily, I practice. And daily I find pockets of grace, these moments of true freedom. 

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Prayer – Lord release me from the bondage of self.  May I open to a view of you that is beyond my imagination.  May I find rest in your unimaginable greatness and strength.  May I find refuge and comfort in you and be imbued with a power beyond my imagination.  May I trust in the order of things, in your perfect timing; and that in each moment – if I make myself available – that you have the power to work through me and use me.  May I step out and you step in.

Current events have people feeling worried, afraid and powerless.  If you feel this way, Congratulations!  Powerlessness is the beginning of true faith.  Do we truly believe in an almighty God that can move mountains?  Have we seen and witnessed mountains moved in our own lives? I have!  I have been delivered from toxic people, places and ways of being.  Things that I thought I would never overcome have been removed from my path.  

Look to the hills, friends. When David said “I will look to the hills from whence commeth my help…:” (Psalm 121) he wasn’t looking forward, he was looking back.  He was looking at all that God had already protected him from, the places where he had been held, covered and rescued. He was looking back to say I will remember these times in the days ahead.  I will remember my story.  I will remember that I serve an all-powerful God and God has helped me.

Can you look back to find hope in the days ahead? What blocks us from fully surrendering? Is it the need to control? To understand? To be right? As much as we lament, there is a part of us that is actually attached to human misery – to winning, being right, belaboring sorrow, to shame, to guilt, to fear.  What needs to happen in order for us to let go so that we can become clear vessels that are available for God’s use?  

Some of the most inspiring human acts happen during times of world suffering.  Nothing that is happening is new, we are a part of a vast and extensive world history.  Our lives are just a jot on the timeline. This is a moment in time.

How will you be used in this moment?  What will you do?  How will you be a purveyor of Gods love on this earth now?  Will you?  Will you make yourself available?

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