Both of my daily readings today say, in effect, the same thing...that all our troubles begin within ourselves.
"God Calling" reads, in part, The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual. And Easwaran quotes Saint Teresa of Avila as saying, Learn self-conquest...you will feel your senses gather themselves together...like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey...God thus rewards the violence which your soul has been doing to itself.
It's a whole new day, a fret-free life, when we learn and accept that we are the source of all our woes. The freedom comes from realizing that we cannot fix this but that God can heal us, despite it. My self-determined objective and prayer had always been for God to make it unhappen. Another unanswered prayer becomes the blessing...if it could have unhappened, we'd miss the gift of realizing God's healing power.
My life, each and every single happening in my life, came by my invitation only. What we fail to see, to realize, is that it is our reaction to each and every happening that determines our thinking about it and thus our resulting life events...as we perceive them.
Our untrained ego-self will immediately go to the worst-case, "yes, but," scenario...children with serious life defects, the Holocaust (this was my personal yes-but favorite), child abuse, etc., etc., etc. It is important to understand that none of those is what is causing our problem with our life right this minute. Each is simply the justification for holding to the ego belief that our problem right this minute did not come by invitation, is not something we personally could have avoided and is not fair...indicating a closed mind and continuing "difficulties with life."
That entire line of thought is continuing reliance on our reasoning mind which is ego-based and will always legislate for itself. First thing, we get to learn to love paradox. It is not our personal strength but our personal weakness that leads us to freedom.
The daily discipline of sitting in silence with no request in mind...just go to God for God...is, to the reasoning mind, pretty much a waste of time. When Gertrude, who is the current personal source of woe, comes to mind, don't engage...detach. A simple, "Bless her, change me," lets it go. Four seconds later, here comes the thought of a beloved pet who has a lump and it may be a mast cell tumor, and, oh please don't let him die. Again, don't engage...detach. If he does die, "Thank You;" if he doesn't die, "Thank You."
"Thank You" is the ultimate, the ever and always, right answer to a reasoning mind problem. And we don't need to know why...another paradox...we only need to say it unto believing it. And we come to believe it by saying it...and receiving the blessing of a mind at peace.
I've come to believe that "Thank You" is the switch that turns my reasoning mind over to the care of God. And I am grateful.
Thank You.
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