Surrender and Sanctuary
I’m going to share a secret with you: I tend to complicate things. WHAT?! Yes, it’s true. And if you know me personally, you are most likely rolling your eyes heavenward.
And when I add that tendency to the way life tends to complicate things all on its own, it can get a little overwhelming. And I have been feeling that overwhelm lately. A LOT.
Sometimes my life is like putting a motor on a shopping cart—it’s a lot of fun until the wheels come off. But as the teacher appears when the student is ready, a word came to me through a friend and trusted advisor this week that is helping me : surrender.
There’s something lovely about that word. What comes to my mind is a big deep breath, my shoulders relaxing, and a releasing of tension throughout my body. I am starting to feel that a little as I write this.
What exactly, however, am I surrendering?
The answer is… all of it. Everything.
My expectations, for one. I have to release them, as they are usually so high that I set myself up for disappointment. Expectations about my work, my family, myself… they all accumulate into this big ball of feeling that everything is not coming out as it should. And deep down I know that isn’t true. I wrote just the other week about Divine Time, and how everything happens exactly when it should. It’s time to inventory my expectations and release them one by one.
I need to surrender my attachment to outcomes. I can’t actually control most of the situations I’ve decided are so important anyway, so that attachment only puts lumps in my gravy, as an old friend of mine once put it.
To what, then, am I surrendering?
I’m surrendering to the circumstances of my life right now. I’m surrendering, accepting, and embracing life exactly as it is (or at least I’m trying). In many ways it isn’t what I would have picked, but I am flexing my faith in the Universe that it is perfect in every way, even if I can’t see it.
My husband Philip likes to say that there is only good - good that is seen, and good that is yet unseen. I’m surrendering to the good that is yet unseen.
What do you need to surrender, and what do you need to surrender to? What is the good in your life that is as yet unseen? I’d love to hear.
With love and gratitude,
Lisa