If you are located anywhere in the southeast part of the US, as I am, your week was filled with so many unknowns. The worst case scenarios on the news truly felt like they could be the worst. And that "out of control" feeling made me want to bear down harder and try to control-- though of course such is impossible!
But what I needed most was our word of the week: openness. For truly, there was no way to really know what was going to happen until it happened.
Openness: the acceptance of or receptiveness to change or new ideas.
But openness, no matter if you are waiting on the speed of winds of a hurricane or something else can be a beautiful spiritual practice.
For openness takes from you what was never yours to carry in the first place, and releases you to accept what is. God is God and you are not.
I love this prayer from author and teacher Henri Nouwen which says:
“Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me.”
I am wondering this morning, what are you holding on to so tightly that you are afraid to release? What is found in your clenched fists? What are you wishing to control?
If there is anything I know for sure, you are not able move forward in your life until you invite more acceptance into your stories-- for simply what is. Only then are pieces of your life (no matter how broken they might be) able to be made whole. Only then can the intense worries about "what ifs?" not be so consuming.
I'll tell you this, against all odds, my family remained save and sound in Hurricane's Helene's path. And, I traveled safely to and back from Ohio for a speaking engagement this weekend (hello new friends who joined Word of the Week today from Ohio). So now, I'm moving into this new week with new appreciation for the gifts of openness that saw me through what I could not see myself. And I'm praying for all those whose lives were altered in hard ways by this storm (or other heavy things this week).
All will be well. All matter of things will be well (thank you, Julia of Norwich). All will be well if we get out of our own way and stay open!
XO
Elizabeth
