All Of It Is Connected

Jesus was right all along.  We are most ourselves when we are thinking least about ourselves. - Andrew Peterson

At the end of a long day yesterday, I sat outside for a bit staring at the clouds moving overhead in the dark sky.  It had been a day full of contrasts.  

I'd experienced the wonderful highs of worshipping and preaching with my church, and I'd also felt the lows that come after expending so much energy, and finally slowing down. 

There had been a phone call from a church member who called with sad news that hurt my heart. And there was an encouraging message from a friend, a fun conversation with my son and the peace that came from cooking a good meal.  

I found myself a bit lost and weary, and yet somehow strangely blissful.  

As I sat there staring at the clouds, I thought about all of the contrasts of the day, and the way they were so disparate, and yet so connected, intertwined and interrelated.  

Together they made things complete.  

This is what I have come to understand about us.  When we focus so much on ourselves... when we fight against the interconnected ways that all of our experiences relate... when we lose sight of the One-ness that God is constantly revealing to us... 

We lose ourselves. 

And when we do this, we move through life half-awake, half-aware and disconnected from all that would make us whole.  

I  read this poem the other day by the 13th-century poet Rumi, and this line stood out for me:  

Humankind is being led along an evolving course,
through this migration of intelligences,
and though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream.

It will eventually startle us back
to the truth of who we are.  

So many of us have believed the lies that have been told about us.  We believe that we are not good enough.  We believe that we are not worthy.  We believe that we are born broken.  

And so, armed with this belief, we move in the world like sleepwalkers.  Despite this, however, there is Something(One) within us guiding us, moving us, and leading us.

Then there are moments when we do lift our heads, and open our eyes.  When we gaze up at the shifting clouds in the night sky and begin to see more clearly that somehow in spite of ourselves God is connecting all of it, making all of it whole. 

And us along with it.  

May you wake to the truth about who you are today.  May you see the intricate ways that God has woven the stories of your life together, and may this bring you closer to wholeness and to One-ness.   

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.