The way down always teaches us. -- Fr Richard Rohr
A particularly hard lesson for us to learn is to neither fear nor deny our personal defects, errors in judgment, missteps and mistakes...actually, we need to praise them for what else leads us back to God so earnestly?
Trying to do spiritual growth, relying only on our own understanding is the first Uh-Oh as we begin our spiritual journey. There is a whole lotta unlearning we need before we are unselfed enough to honestly pray for God's will, God's way.
God's will, God's way is the secret to a peaced Soul.
The promise of ask and ye shall receive comes true...it is God's circuitous route that requires our change of mind.
True story: Fifty years ago when I started my search for still more spiritual growth, I thought I had to read the Bible. Naturally, I sought no help, I just opened the book and started reading. Ask and ye shall receive caught my eye so I asked. I prayed for an emerald ring.
Forty years later a lady I less than loved came into my life seeking my help. I spent many an hour on my knees praying to accept her just as she was, warts and all. Then I'd concentrate on her warts and how to fix them.
The gift came when I realized it wasn't her warts that was the problem. The problem was my faulty perception...or more precisely, my problem was me, is me, will never not be me.
That being true, why not make a perpetual problem a perpetual gift? Kiss it on the lips and get grateful. That's how the lady and I became friends, and later, when she passed, she left me her emerald ring.
Did I mention circuitous? God's circuitous route brought me what I needed...gut-bucket acceptance that I am the source of all my woes. The emerald ring was just a personal gift from a friend. Or my God's wicked sense of humor...which I lean toward.
Personal change, if done right, will feel like "the way down" which we need remember "always teaches us."
Thank you.
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