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The purpose of these email reflections is to stimulate the God-given longing we all have for that which is truly life-giving, and to encourage sacrificing the lesser, more immediate "satisfactions" for the greater, in all areas of life, so that one may Live and share that Life with others!
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Hello ,
We're looking at the ways we lose our lives by trying to gain them, using the story of a little girl doing flips in a corner of the playground to consider one way this may happen. - Sheldon Swartz
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More On The Little Girl Doing Flips
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"Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it." - Proverbs 1:19
In the last issue of "Choosing Life" I told the story Byron Katie told first of the little girl doing flips in the corner of the playground, just for the pure enjoyment of it. Other kids come to watch the beautiful sight and she becomes aware of them and their admiring, approving smiles and verbal affirmations. When she gets tired and wants to quit for this round, they beg her to continue and so she does, having gotten a bit attached to the good feelings that go with their approval and doesn't want to lose them. She gets more and more tired, and begins feeling angry towards those who are "making" her continue beyond her natural limits. She so wants to quit, because this wonderful exercise of expressing her innocent creative self has now become an ordeal, but she feels trapped, unable to free herself from this prison she has stepped into.
That's where I ended last time, with her wanting to unapologetically and freely say, "That's all for today, folks - maybe more tomorrow, maybe not" and just walk away with a smile, but she felt unable to do that.
This is an illustration of how we move from freely being the persons God created us to be into an attempt to cheat life by demanding that our sense of value come from the responses of others. We do get others to respect and admire us, perhaps, but the gain is ill-gotten and takes away our lives if it is at all held onto as a source of security or significance.
As Jesus indicated, it is possible to gain a whole lot of good legitimate stuff, but in the process lose one's soul. (Luke 9:25) I don't believe He was just referring to what happens to one's soul after one dies, but also to the reality that our souls actually get lost when we base our life on anything that can be lost. I believe that is why Jesus suggests that God is a Seeker, i.e., Someone who is looking for our souls (our true selves), which have great value to Him. (Luke 15)
I believe God loves to save our souls from that which is ultimately of no value, and there is no place we can go that is too "lost" for him to find us - after all, all space is his, no matter how light or dark it is. I regularly get to relate to people who are dealing with the lostness of their own souls and sometimes in unexpected ways and unexpected times experience the wonder of being found. When I get to see it, I resonate with the joy of the shepherd who found the sheep that was lost. If I could have everything stop and live in that moment forever, I think I would be in heaven! I think I find fulfillment in this process because it is exactly what I am doing - discovering my lostness in more and deeper ways and being found in more and deeper ways. I am grateful (at this moment - I don't know about the next!)
When have you last asked God to strip you of any attachments that hinder your walk with Him? When have you valued your freedom so much that you were willing to "sell all" in order to experience it? We carry around so much baggage it's really had to get through the door to life, 'cause that door has room only for us, not us plus our baggage.
A prayer that I have memorized and can now pray any time I want goes like this:
With every morn my life afresh
Must break the crust of self
Gathered about me fresh.
That Thy wind-spirit may rush in
And shake the darkness out of me
And rend the mesh the spider-devils spin out of the flesh,
Eager to net the soul before it wake,
That it may slumber lie
And listen to the snake.
And what is the snake's mantra? Maybe something like, "If you trust, you will lose." "If you let go, you will lose." Etc.
"God, while I enjoy my longing for freedom to be who I am made to be, I confess that I also enjoy the security of the prisons I erect for myself and live within. I know you continue to try to find me and that your resources are unlimited, but sometimes I'm not sure I really want to be found. 'Cause when You find people their life changes and I don't think mine is really all that bad right now. It's only when I pay attention that I become aware of a longing for more. Maybe that's why I often choose to disregard my deepest desires. God, don't let me off the hook no matter how much I thrash around and try to get loose. In other words, be stronger than me. Please overpower me. Amen"
I work with individuals, couples, and families to identify the ways of life and death in their lives and help uncover the motivation to choose that which leads to life, whether it be through counseling or spiritual direction. - Sheldon Swartz, MA/LMFT | |
