THIS MORNING I WROTE:
“The woman at the well – and Jesus came and said, ‘Can I sit with you? It’s okay if you say no.’ I’d been drinking decaf and writing a personal inventory. I told him my gruesome situation and he said, ‘Let it go. You are being too hard on yourself. You need only take what is truly yours and move on. Remember the Serenity Prayer.’
“Needless to say, tears welled up – welled, get it?
“Later, when the community gathered, we read a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. These words struck me: ‘Nothing is going well with me.’ I tried to speak. I finally did with Jesus’ prodding. And then a friend spoke. ‘The same phrase jumped out for me, too,’ she said. And my heart broke for her – I’d begun to move on.”
AND THEN I READ:
Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion?
– Joseph Conrad
Some people don’t seem to be able to accept the things that come to them; they always want to go back and dwell on how it was before and what mistakes were made by them and others. Sometimes they want to prove, by this recital of past errors, that they were right; sometimes they seem to want to dwell on their own fallibility.
We can’t make much progress toward serenity of the spirit without reconciling the past. If old wounds or conflicts rankle, we need to accept them, forgive them, and let them go. Above all, let’s forgive ourselves. Those past errors turned into valuable lessons, didn’t they? Life is too short to hold grudges, and they take up energy and time that we could use for spiritual growth.
Each day is new, and this new day is all of the time for us, right now. This day can flow pure and clear or we can choke it with old grudges, regrets or fears – the choice is ours.
The ground of forgiveness and compassion is fertile, from it comes my harvest of the future.
– The Promise of a New Day, Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg.
AND I ALSO READ:
Accent on the Present
…If we are to be alive in the present, we need to let go of the past. What is over is over and cannot be replayed except in our minds…What we can do is turn our memories over to our Higher Power for healing. The creative Spirit which is not bound by time can take away old hurts and resentments. Then we are free to deal with the present and concentrate on doing God’s will for us now, today. Living in the present keeps us in touch with the Power which restores us to sanity.
– Food for Thought, Elizabeth L.