How is this supposed to work?<\/em> \u201d Etc. etc. etc.<\/p>\nAnd then, very quietly, out of nowhere,\u00a0this thought just passed over me like a warm blanket on a freezing cold night:<\/p>\n
Surrender doesn\u2019t mean giving up. It means engaging completely and fully in your life.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThat was it. That concept, not exactly in\u00a0words, but that idea,\u00a0emerged unassumingly and then proceeded to fully establish itself in my thoughts.\u00a0It stepped in to the room, took a quick look around and dropped all it\u2019s bags, saying \u201cI\u00a0ain\u2019t goin\u2019 nowhere!\u201d And then I knew<\/em>. It was like\u00a0an epic shift was taking place in the tectonic plates of my\u00a0spiritual topography.\u00a0All of the interior wheels and gears that make up the apparatus of my consciousness\u00a0clicked over a couple of notches, and in an instant changed my entire outlook on life.<\/p>\nA flood of insights started surging through my mind, connecting a life\u2019s worth\u00a0of events, circumstances, decisions, attitudes, aspirations,\u00a0and consequences. Surrender is\u00a0the opposite of giving up. It\u2019s giving in \u2013 to who you are<\/em>. It isn\u2019t passive, it\u2019s active. It\u2019s a paradox. But I have to trust in God for the outcome. That\u2019s the hitch. And that\u2019s the mystery. The one part that I can\u2019t control is the outcome \u2013 the results, the future, the end-game of all my doings here on earth \u2013 and that\u2019s the part where the true meaning of surrender comes in to play. The part that I can\u2019t control anyways. God\u2019s the One in control.<\/p>\nSo why would I want to hold on to something I never had to begin with?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know why I hadn\u2019t \u201cgotten\u201d this before. The act of surrendering my life means that I am fully collaborating with God in the life he has given me \u2013 my gifts, my passions, my ambitions, my ideas, my creativity, my love, even my doubts and struggles. Without holding back! Because He loves me, He created me!\u00a0Just invite God in to my life, and be more of me. I can then trust God to lead, open doors, make a way, to whatever outcome is meant to be for His purpose and His will.\u00a0And yes, I can look to Him in prayer, meditation and scriptures for general guidance and insights, but it\u2019s not like He\u2019s going to take over my current life and make every decision for me. He just wants to be involved. It\u2019s not like\u00a0a battle of wills \u2014 me vs. Him. Rather, it\u2019s Him in me, somehow living and creating and loving through my crazy life.<\/p>\n
That may sound very basic to you, but for me this solved a major problem in how I perceived the role of God in my daily life. It helped me see how I can integrate my very strong free will with an invisible God who is somehow pulling the strings from some other mysterious invisible dimension, and who is really the One in control. It also was a big step towards integrating my real life with my spiritual life. They are one in the same.<\/p>\n
So, dear Blog readers,\u00a0the great learning\u00a0to share with you all from my meditation is this:\u00a0Surrendering to God is a life-long process\u00a0in\u00a0which I am actively engaged, simply\u00a0by\u00a0the pursuit of my daily life \u2014 in making decisions, calculating business risks,\u00a0driving the kids to school\u00a0\u2013 both the milestones and the monotonous. But at the same time, I am acknowledging that God somehow, mysteriously is in the midst of it. He is doing His thing through me, accomplishing His purpose for my life.<\/p>\n
My part is to show up.<\/p>\n
My purpose is just to live.<\/p>\n
For God.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read about how I got here here, here, and here. So. I\u2019m about five minutes into my morning meditation, not very long at all,\u00a0and I\u2019m focusing on the word \u201cSurrender.\u201d And probably to be honest with you, in the back of my mind at some subterranean subconscious level I was still asking God\u00a0\u201cWhat is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[448,537,644,677],"class_list":["post-6184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality","category-work-life-balance","tag-meditation","tag-prayer","tag-spiritual-disciplines","tag-surrender"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n