On to the 2nd Approach, as I am calling these. (See Openness for the first of these three Approaches.) What do I mean by lightness? To start, I draw from my inspiration from words Jesus spoke in Matthew’s Gospel (11:28-30) in the Christian Scriptures:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I find this to be a touchstone for me. Jesus beckons us to come to Him for rest. This invitation is even more powerful and needed in our hectic, and fast-paced world. If you live in suburban America on the East Coast in New York, you “get it”. But no matter where you live, or your “status” in life, you know you need rest regularly! Then Jesus says to take His yoke on you, and learn from Him. I imagine a farming image of two oxen being yoked to pull a plow or whatever. The yoke binds them and enables them to share the load. This is just my image, and I have not dug into all the scholarly interpretation of this. I am not saying we are oxen–but we all know that a burden shared reduces the load. I know so often I don’t say how I am doing or not doing as I don’t want to “burden” someone! Yes, we do need to be careful who we trust and share with, but if you have people that you can share honestly with in your life-USE them.
My yoke is easy, Jesus says. This is harder to grasp I feel, and doesn’t jive so well with the taking up of our crosses that we Christians hear so often! But I believe with Jesus there is a “flow”, a Life-Flow, a Love-Flow, an Alignment with Him, that He is inviting us into. It is “easy” in a way we do not readily understand, and is light. It has a “lightness” to it. We have to tap into it–but it is readily available!
We can all understand heaviness versus lightness, a feather versus a rock. We get that a leaf is light and floats on water. We can also understand heaviness of heart, versus lightness of feeling and being. I believe Jesus invites us all into a Lightness of Being-His Lightness.
Having OCD, I know I am too often not light, not unheavy. I am too filled with my own thoughts, my own feelings, my own opinions. I am too concerned with what others think of me, or are they pleased with me. I am way to often occupied with the “mind-reading” Pete Scazzero talks about in his Emotionally Healthy teachings. He and his wife are doing a great work helping religious folks to be more emotional and spiritually healthy. https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org (Link included. I do not know him personally, or receive any benefit from linking to him.)
So, I am not “light” many times in mind, or in heart, or in action. To return to that image of last week with Reverend Bill Hunter and his outstretched arms, I must be open and receive Lightness. I must receive Lightness of Being, Lightness of Approach. If Openness as I defined it last week was how I approach the world and people in it, Lightness is how I am in myself. Am I taking myself to seriously? Have I made this situation the “end of the world”? I have far-far too much drama in my own head over what I think may happen, or what someone will say or do–that often times (most times) NEVER happens even remotely as I have fantasied it would. Yikes!
For me, Jesus is saying: “Eric, you don’t need to add all this context and projection onto this situation. You can just follow me, and let me show you, guide you, and lead you.” When I allow that into my soul, when I am Open to that, I experience His Lightness.
I recently had a flood in my basement from a torn pool liner that ultimately caused my whole basement to have to be ripped up. (Crazy story.) I was angry that it happened, angry that I had to deal with it, and blaming myself mysteriously that somehow I should have anticipated that happening! I was “in my head”, and of course wondered: Why is God letting this destructive thing happen in my life?
We can get lost in ‘Why?’ Somewhere, someone said to me, or I read it, that we should also ask: “Why not?” If we are in Christian Practice, Jesus said you WILL have trouble in life, not might, will.
“In this…world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” John 16: 33, The Message
Flooded basements are part of the Journey. I can do it in my practices with Jesus, yoked and bonded with Him. Or, I can tune Him out and complain.
We can close ourselves off from whatever Divine Principle we acknowledge.
There was no loss of personal affects. No one died. A floor has to be replaced, lots of cleaning, re-painting, etc. But I did not lose my whole house. My main living space is just fine. I am blessed to be able to afford insurance that will cover this disaster. My life will go on.
But inside my head, it felt like I lost so much more: the peace of my well ordered home, and how I wanted the coming weeks to go. There may yet be unexpected expenses I will incur, who knows? My ego was not allowed to have its way! Nature, and the flakiness of the Universe said: Nope. God allowed this to happen, obviously. He could have directed water elsewhere. I believe He clearly did that in Exodus, and calmed the sea in the Gospels, but He did not do that here! Could it be that as I write these things, I too must learn them more deeply? I thought I was just writing a little blog. I too am learning, right along with you, dear reader!
Regardless–I believe I am on a Journey. This is a Spiritual Journey, that my life takes place in. There are wonderful moments, like getting married, (twice). There are sad moments, like my Father dying suddenly of a heart attack in the height of Covid, and there are sucky moments, like my basement being flooded. In the good, and the bad, I must remember the words of Job in the Jewish Scriptures:
“We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?” Job 2:10, The Message
In each situation, high and low, I can receive Divine Lightness, and Divine easiness. I can receive God’s flowing love. It doesn’t seem easy–but Jesus says it is. So, I will receive it, and continue with it and in it. I can breathe. I can drop my shoulders, for at least a few minutes. I may feel sad or angry, hurt or bewildered, but I can do it with some Lightness. I conclude with a phrase that has been whispered in my soul for a long time:
Lightness received. Lightness experienced. Lightness directed.
I’ll expand on this more in a later post, but for next week, we’ll move on to the Third Approach: Alignment.
-Eric, the Wordsmith
BP8