Inviting the Divine Therapist to Extend the Walls of Our Inner Room to All of Life
Psalm 26, 28 • Psalm 36, 39
Job 12:1, 13:3-17, 21-27 • Acts 12: 1-17 • John 8: 33-47
I just finished a Zoom retreat put on by the New Orleans Chapter of Contemplative Outreach with the above title. How do I bring my spiritual practice of centering prayer/meditation (and/or other practices) into my daily life—the "real world" as we sometimes refer to it? The feeling of peace and connectedness to everything that I might experience in my meditation often fades rapidly when one of my programs for happiness is thwarted by some person I encounter who didn't get the memo about MY plan for MY day. As I feel the afflictive emotion rising in me, I remember in the corner of my awareness a spiritual practice known as Guard of the Heart (for more information on this practice see: Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating). I have the option to turn my upset over to God before it has become a raging wildfire in my psyche. 12-steppers will resonate with: Let go, and let God.
Can it really be that simple? Yes, although simple doesn't equate with "easy." One helpful clue to remember is that the UPSET is always in ME—not in that other person or the situation. In chapter 8 of John's Gospel, Jesus tells some folks listening to him in the Temple: "You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free." The last sentence in that chapter says, "So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."
The truth will indeed sometimes make us miserable before it sets us free. The spiritual journey is not for the faint of heart. But all we have to lose is our false self—which is guaranteed to keep us on the roller coaster of our emotions as we try to implement our fragile programs for happiness. As we surrender to the Holy Spirit working its Divine Therapy on us, in us, and through us, we will "have life—and have it more abundantly." COWABUNGA!
Written by Nicholas Cole
...who is glad to be surrendering to the Holy Spirit...on the good days!