It takes a long time to move from power to weakness, from glib certitude to vulnerability, from meritocracy to pure grace. In Paul's letters, he consistently idealizes not power but powerlessness, not strength but weakness. -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," April 15, 2015
As I look back, it seems the majority of my spiritual growth has been in my willingness to detach, become smaller, have less, get solely to give...in my moving from the desire to be noticed, acknowledged, praised to the unfettered grace of unknowing. Thus giving me the option to live unafraid, accepting that my ego can and will rise up in righteous indignation and do my thinking for me whenever it wants to. I am powerless over that, too.
I am not powerless, however, over turning my thoughts away from my ego (i.e., changing my mind). All I need do is give a silent "thank you" to my ego for sharing and to my God for caring, and let go.
Which sounds simple enough, but this is the part that "takes a long time." For me to honestly let go, it generally takes another person's ears to hear me and voice to guide me. My ego finds its voice when I've made a decision based on self, and its hidey-hole is in my reasoning mind. There my ego can justify my decision...as in, I wouldn't have made that decision if it hadn't been right for me period end of story...now on to obsessing about it.
The quickest way in this world to stop the obsessing is to remember our decision to "agree with our adversary quickly," to "cease fighting anything and anybody." Just remembering our decision is the first step on the right path...away from ego toward God.
We may need to re-remember a whole lotta times, but our goal is toward God now. Once we finally hit the wall with the re-remembering, grace just sorta flows within us. We know defeat, and we feel goooood. There. That's God intervening in our life in our behalf.
Thank you.
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