Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Surrender
We are open to the lessons of our life challenges, eager to learn and grow and continue to move towards the Kingdom.
Evelyn Underhill was an Episcopal mystic who lived in England in the early 1900s. In 1911, she wrote to a friend who was in great emotional distress and emphasized the importance of embracing the Cross as an essential part of one's Spiritual transformation.
"I do not think you have ever made the Cross the centre of your life really," she writes. "And you have got to, you know. Nothing else will do. And if you do not accept it deliberately, why then it will be forced on you in some subtle and ingenious way, as it is at the present moment. And by struggling and tiring yourself out, you make it worse. Accept what you are having, quite simply and obediently. Take it as it comes. And do not get into a despairing condition. These experiences are a perfectly normal part of the Spiritual life, which is not designed on the lines of a 'Pleasant Sunday Afternoon.' Surrender yourself altogether and be quite quiet. The thing is not in your hands at present."
If your life seems to be fixed in a state of perpetual challenge, take these passionate, somewhat irritating words to heart. The ordeals that seem to crucify us are not a sign that we're doing something wrong. They are an essential part of the Spiritual path, and the only efficient response is a state of surrender.
reprinted from Unity's Lent 2013 "A Season for Spiritual Growth"