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Lightening up!

“The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work (or vocation) seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second can be totally disastrous.”

-- Margot Fonteyn

"Don't take yourself too seriously, and for God’s sake don't be too serious about not taking yourself too seriously."

-- Howard Ogden

"He is a sane man who can hold pain and tragedy in his heart and comedy and mirth in his head."

-- G.K. Chesterton, in Tremendous Trifles, 1909

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

-- As You Like It

"Deny your (lower) ‘self’ for your (Higher) ‘Self's’ sake."

-- Benjamin Franklin

I am sitting here shivering in 33-degree weather in a very big house with no heat, feeling my lower self very denied. I barely slept last night, warmed only by a fireplace I had to keep going all night, while snoozing for short periods on the sofa, and I can’t help but laugh at myself about all this. And there aren’t many daffodils out there this morning, so I won’t be doing any counting or musing on them as I suggested the other day. In fact, there’s not much out there moving this morning. It’s way too cold for me to kayak to my favorite breakfast spot. Maybe I’ll just sit here and whimper and sulk a little bit. Nah, there’s nobody here that’s willing to give me any attention or feel sorry for me, so why bother? I don’t feel particularly loved by God right now, and I even hear Him laughing as I can’t take that joke very seriously. We’re having a ball (almost, anyway), as I learn to roll with it and go with this thing, as just another new adventure. I think I’ll go get on some warm boots (my feet will have to do the warming since they’re very cold right now) and walk over to see Phil for some coffee and eggs. Where things go from there is anybody’s guess, but suffice it to say I am very aware of my totally ridiculous situation.

I am slowly learning that not only do I not have to be physically and emotionally comfortable to experience Him, it often (both the zealous pursuit and the actual experience of comfort) gets in the way. Right now it’s not, though, and I see His goofy smile smirking at me. “You asked to get up here so that you could feel closer to Me,” He teased. “Well, here you are. Come give Me a big hug, and I’ll warm you right up!” “How’s that going to work exactly?” I complain unappreciatively. “Let’s just use our imaginations, OK, and while we’re at it you can thank Me for the trees and the fire and the air, and you for the very smart notion of a fireplace. I keep trying to tell you – I mean I even came and showed you - that this place ain’t built for your comfort and relaxation along with your total understanding of it, but for your growth and transcendence along with your total acceptance of it for what it is, as it is, but you just don’t seem to want to listen to any of that. You keep trying to fix up the place to be perfect – to understand, improve, manage, and relax into it as your totally reliable and trustworthy home. Good luck with that. This is another wake-up call, Jimmy. I am your Home and all you can ever fully and truly relax into, and here I am – Home Sweet Home!

Resting in true freedom

I’m in Connecticut this morning, after driving up from the Philly area late last night. I’m off to New Hampshire and some peaceful replenishment later this morning or early afternoon. I’ve received so many good wishes for a nice trip, so many curious interrogatories, and a few funny observations or complaints about pending assignments, all delightful. So many loose ends, so many little things to review, so little to worry about. My Mom and I spent a good amount of time over the weekend talking about worry, and how useless it is. It only exists in a state of bondage or slavery. In the Kingdom, nada. Freedom rules. Because God rules, and the rest is His Story.


Growing Into Our True Freedom

True freedom is the freedom of the children of God. To reach that freedom requires a lifelong discipline since so much in our world militates against it. The political, economic, social, and even religious powers surrounding us all want to keep us in bondage so that we will obey their commands and be dependent on their rewards. But the spiritual truth that leads to freedom is the truth that we belong not to the world but to God, whose beloved children we are. By living lives in which we keep returning to that truth in word and deed, we will gradually grow into our true freedom.


The Spirit Will Speak in Us

When we are spiritually free, we do not have to worry about what to say or do in unexpected, difficult circumstances. When we are not concerned about what others think of us or what we will get for what we do, the right words and actions will emerge from the center of our beings because the Spirit of God, who makes us children of God and sets us free, will speak and act through us. Jesus says: "When you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you" (Matthew 10:19-20).
Let's keep trusting the Spirit of God living within us, so that we can live freely in a world that keeps handing us over to judges and evaluators.


Freedom Attracts

When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom. Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be.


Leave it to Henri (Nouwen) to set the tone for my trip to the lake, with the three above coming in over the last three days. How perfect! While living and breathing my disciplined obedience, I am off to savor my freedom, in God’s arms. There is no “love language” needed to be learned or understood with Him in the center. He speaks and offers the language of the soul of all of us. It drives and nourishes everything. Nothing else matters but this.

I will write a little over the week, maybe, and will live and love and learn a lot, to be sure. Enjoy your freedom!