Getting out of our own way

“Be alive in Me. I live in you; let Me feel everything in you. Of course, even your faults.
Am I not compassion personified? Haven’t I the power to blot out everything?
To make crooked things straight?”

Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (Kindle Locations 2565-2567).

Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.

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I do believe that some of our brothers and sisters, lower down on the tree of life, do have self-awareness, and even some sort of interior life.
Animals can think feel, suffer, and yes love. Yet they are spared, I believe by the depth of self-awareness that humans have.

Our cats, in our front parking lot, are getting old, and yes, fat. Mimi, our cat lady, takes good care of them. They have no worries, so when not eating,
or fighting, they lay outside on their backs, facing the sun, and blissfully sleep. Humans on the other hand when not eating, or working,
or fighting, or whatever, well, we can just worry about a lot of things. Over the past, and of course the ‘now’,
we can really get overwrought thinking about the future. We can often get in our own way.
I do it, and I guess most do as well, though most likely there are some who don’t. I have just not met them, yet, waiting.

I would not want to be a cat, for their world, perfect for them, would seem very limited compared to the world I live in now.
Worries, suffering, and anxiety, can bring us to a place where we have to make some choices if we want to deal with
our dis-ease. Some worries and fears are healthy, but most of them I believe just tend to trip us (me) up.
So when inner tension builds it can be a catalyst to grow and change.

People, who are believers, can either, live out of their faith and experience some healing, as they struggle with their
drunken, monkey, minds. Or they can look at their faith as something they do maybe every Sunday, or once
a month, or a few times a year, but never settling into the fact that in order to have a healthy soul, it also
takes work. In fact, it can be the most important activity that we do, yet is often placed far down on the list of importance.

Faith lived out, leads to prayer, which leads the seeker to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit, which
expands our sense of responsibility. Self-knowledge flows from deep prayer. Trust flows from that if the course
is held. If not, well each moment is a new beginning, so for most
the journey must be taken, if not now, maybe very late in life.

When we begin to understand the grace of God, it is then that our crooked ways are made straight
as healing deepens. Our priorities change, which enriches our humanity, and leads to more
connection with others. Love allows us to relate to others as ‘real’ and not as objects to be used and then set aside.

Christ Jesus wishes to deepen our humanity, and to make our humanness one with his. The more
we trust and get out of our own way, the more quickly grace will do its work,
watering the seeds that are planted by the love of God in each human heart.-Br.MD