Monday, November 29, 2010

Making room for the Spirit of Life this Christmas

I am reading a little pamphlet by Richard Rohr entitled, Preparing For Christmas. Richard is a Franciscan Priest who is the founder of the Center For Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In today's meditation he writes in part:

"You do not catch a butterfly by chasing it; You sit still and it alights on your shoulder."

The suggested reflection today is "What attachments can you let go of to make more room for God?"

Do you worry too much?
Do you try too hard?
Are you striving after things which don't really matter in the big scheme of things?

The Spirit of Life wants to bless you and can you see its desire standing right in front of you?

I took 5 days off over the Thanksgiving holiday, from Wednesday to Sunday. It was great. I just "hung out" as the teenagers nowdays say. I could get used to it, but today I have to go back to work. I'm not sure what I have to let go of to make more room for the Spirit of Life, but I think it lies in the realm of not trying so hard.

"It is what it is" as they say.

At the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship I was trying too hard and getting discouraged. I notice that when I backed off, things starting picking up. The Spirit works in mysterious ways and making room for it requires patience, self awareness, and letting go in a positive way, not throwing in the towel, but standing back and giving some space for other things to happen outside my control. I am not sure "surrender" is the right word, it's more like backing off.

As they say in AA, "Let go and let God." The Spirit of Life might be saying, "Give me some space!"

2 comments:

  1. I do resonate with your words today, D. I too, took off Thursday through Monday, but only tacked on Monday due to a nasty turkey-holiday cold! Still, it was a treat not to be "doing." Getting away from things often helps me to get better perspective on what my part is in the skeme of life! Glad to be on the journey with you. Happy Advent!

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  2. Thank you Marie for your comments. I got the cold too. I hope you feel better soon.

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