Pray
and Trust
“Relinquishing
control is the ultimate challenge for the Spiritual Warrior.”
Ralph
H. Blum (The Book of Runes)
Yesterday,
I had an interesting conversation with a friend over lunch. This
young woman is a former student; one who took her studies very
seriously and has furthered them at every opportunity, studying
regularly at Esalen Institute in California. She was given this piece
of advice by one of the “old-timers” at the Institute, “You are
very gifted, but you have to take your oars out of the water!” This
is a lesson most of us struggle with every day—we want so much to
direct our own lives, and at the same time be in deep relationship to
Spirit. We can't have it both ways. Trust is the lesson.
In
the 12-Step vernacular, it is “Let go and let God.” We carry so
much fear inside—fear that we will fail, fear that we are kidding
ourselves, and everyone else knows it. We fear being so caught up in
our own “mission” that others will abandon us and we will be sad
and alone. Trust is hard to come by in a dysfunctional world,
especially during fallow times, when we don't know where we're headed or
what comes next.
For
me, trust has developed over time, and not because it comes naturally to me. When we spend the first half of our lifetime trying
to control everything, and finally realize, after banging our heads
against that wall for decades, that we control almost nothing, trust
gets easier. It's not the “Whatever!” kind of trust, but the
“What now?” kind. One thing ends and there's a pause of
not-knowing. While we wait for what comes next, we can spin our
wheels in panic and flap around like the proverbial headless chicken,
or we can pray and trust. I've done both, and I can assure you, pray
and trust is the better option. Today, try taking your oars out of
the water, and just see where the flow of life takes you.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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