What we need, we already have

God is already present. God’s Spirit is dwelling within you. You cannot search for what you already have. You cannot talk God into “coming” into you by longer and more urgent prayers. All you can do is become quieter, smaller, and less filled with your own self and your constant flurry of ideas and feelings. Then God will be obvious in the very now of things, and in the simplicity of things

                                                                                                                                Richard Rohr

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what words describe our lives?

striving

working

pushing

manipulating?

what words describe our minds

churning

blaming

worrying

what words describe the fruit

of all this

chaos and angst?

anger

fear

anxiety

arrogance

we wander through life

full of so much

stuff

it is not all bad

indeed there is much that is good

positive

life giving

but many of us seem plagued by

what is functionally

an insecure attachment to God

we wander through life trying to earn sacred love

we wander through life afraid

and end up with a spirituality of anxiety

where our conversations with god are more about us

trying to manipulate the sacred one to

be with us

or for us

or perhaps even against “them”

we seek and search and struggle

and trying to find

the holy grail

we look for the silver bullet

the magic formula

but what we need we already have

the acceptance – we have it

the love – we have it

the presence – we have it

but in the middle of our frantic striving

we do not hear the voice of acceptance

we do not feel the presence

we do not experience the love

All we need do is become quieter, smaller, and less filled with our own selves

and our constant flurry of ideas and feelings.

then the sacred will be obvious in the very now of things

and in the simplicity of things

even in the simple beauty of

the sunrise