Finding Freedom

"Our value, our sense of enough, will never, ever be granted by the world. Our wealth is in being part of something larger, the family of the earth, the body of Christ, the sangha of the Buddha, the mosque, temple, ashram, or community of service. What we bring is our own uniquely precious, yet ultimately very small gift, to a very large table....Play with the freedom of being ordinary, nobody special. Remind yourself: The world isn't waiting for me to do, fix, heal, or proclaim anything. The pressure is off. Nobody is watching me. Why should they? I am just an ordinary human being, a child of the earth, like everyone else. I am perfectly good enough, just the way I am."   

                                                               Wayne Muller

I am always tempted

to find ways to feel special

I am always tempted to think

I must do something, say something, be something

that will make people like me

I often want people to make me feel special

and that can have its unhealthy side

It is this sense that I must

fix, heal, proclaim

that too often drives me

It is this need to be liked

appreciated

valued 

that shape the way I am in this world

Jesus after his baptism, went an hid in the desert

Satan tempted him by asking him

to make himself noticeable

Jesus refused

The heroes in the  New Testament are often the humble

the outcast

the insiginificant

Peter was at his worst when he was trying hard

to be the best

Lord teach me this day

simply to be a child of the earth

help me to understand that it is when

I am quietly

authentically

just present at the table

that it is when I am just present

gently caring

that I am the greatest power for good

and am enough