die before you die

We are only afraid of death as long as we do not know who we are, but once we know ourselves objectively to be a child of God, we are already home and our inheritance is given to us ahead of time. Then we can begin living and enjoying instead of climbing, proving, or defending. Our false self, as all religions say in one way or another, must “die before we die.”

                               Richard Rohr (reflecting on the teachings of Francis of Assisi

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Bless our little souls

we are afflicted by so many niggling fears

they dance through our brain

they are carried in our bodies

they rock and roll in our soul

all those anxieties

and uncertainties

all that unease and trepidation

leaving us feeling unsafe

and uncertain

it is like a poison, this fear

eating away at the fabric of who we are

leaving us tattered and torn

the walking wounded

desperately trying to heal

but we do not know how to heal ourselves

all our efforts

leave us more damaged

we try to heal through achievement

we strive and hoard

we grab power

we abuse

but we are left with only the fear

that we will lose what we have gained

that we will fail, or worse

someone else will take our treasures away

and so we become hard

suspicious

protective

we keep others at a distance

we keep minimize them and marginalize them

we oppress them and suppress them

we exclude them

we simply cannot welcome

those we fear, those we see as threats

our country

our churches

our lives

how sad we become

as we seek to prove our worth

as we clamber over others, scrambling

toward power or wealth

armoured with hate, and prejudice

or perhaps with camo and an AR-15

or even a Bible

there is only one anecdote

to believe in a God of love

a God who IS Love

and to believe that we are the Children of that God

loved and accepted

and forgiven

and that our destination is sure

Jesus often suggested that we have to die to live

that we have to die before we die

so that we might be born again

which is another way of saying

we must “die” so that we might find

a different way of doing life

so it is

we have to die to fear

that we might be born to faith

die to anger that we might be born to forgiveness

die to greed that we might be born to generosity

die to hate that we might be born to love

and it is when we have died

that we can truly live

so this day

and every day

I plan to wander through the minutes and the hours

muttering to myself

Child of God

Child of God

Child of God

not just about myself

but about every tattered and worn soul

I meet