Today is Thursday and yesterday was the first day of the Lenten season - Ash Wednesday - which, when I was a child, always meant there was something for me to "give up" for Lent. I tried to "give up" broccoli for Lent one year but my mother would have none of it. Off and on, I tried to "give up" those things I hated in an effort to circumvent the whole denying myself things I enjoy because I never saw the point. Let's deny ourselves the good things in life and suffer so we can say that we can suffer. Life can deliver suffering to us free of charge, unexpectedly and out of the blue, so I feel no need to add to it by making up more ways to make myself suffer.
If I am to keep a true Lent, then I believe I must "give up" those things that keep me stuck in my false and limiting beliefs. I must "give up" my judgments about people, my condemnations regarding events, and my cynicism around situations. I must give up those things that keep me from seeing the beauty, the perfection, the oneness of all life. If I am to keep a true Lent, which means to loose and let go, then I want to let go of my prejudices, my small mindedness, and my petty ideas of how it "should" be.
So, I'm giving up on "giving up", and I'm surrendering my small self in these next 40 days to grasp an image of the Divine as all things. I'll let you know how it goes...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment