Text: Colossians 2:8-23 (see below)
The other night as I was reading out of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book on Step Three for my recovery program, I came across these words:
“’Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.’ Practicing Step Three is like the opening of a door which in all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: ‘This is the way to faith that works.’…. Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action, for it is only by action that we can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God into our lives” (page 34).
These words encouraged me to reflect on the difficulty I sometimes experience in prayer. I often come to the Lord in prayer with my hands so tightly clenched that, in a sense, it is impossible for God to enter into my being: “This is what I want, Lord!” or “I know I can overcome this mountain simply by my self-will!” Those types of statements are lies and predicated by the false self.
It is only by my willingness to “die” or “surrender” the self-will that makes it possible for God to find room in my heart while I pray. And once God is in my heart, leading me and guiding me, all things are possible. How willing are you in your prayers to turn your life, your actions, and especially your will over to the care of God?
In Jean Vanier’s book Community and Growth, the author describes a time when a former Archbishop of Brussels came to the L’Arche community to speak about authority as a gift from God. In his address to those assembled, he said:
“When I get home after a long day, I go to the chapel and pray. I say to the Lord, ‘There it is for today; things are finished. Now let’s be serious, is this diocese mine or yours?’ The Lord answered: ‘What do you think?’ I answered: ‘I think it’s yours.’ ‘That is true,’ the Lord said, ‘it is mine.’ And so I said: ‘Listen, Lord: it is your turn to take responsibility for and direct the diocese. I am going to sleep now.’” (page 210)
Here was a Christian leader fully aware that to be true to whom he was, and what he believed, he had in prayer to willingly turn his life, his ministry, the whole diocese (!) over to the care of God. I wager, for the most part, he slept very peacefully night in and night out.
Most of us will not have the opportunity in this life to be an Archbishop (thanks be to God!); but the principle is just as true. Whether we are a parent, a CEO of a small business, an employee on a factory line, a musician in a jazz band, a mayor of a city, a student trying to complete a Masters program, or simply a regular “Joe” or “Jane”, the more we can go to the Lord in prayer and turn our lives and will over to God, the additional freedom, faith, and joy we shall find.
Love One Another – Brian
Release the Peace
Gayle Brandeis
"Come back to the heartbeat, the pulse, the rhythm we all walk to, regardless of nation or color. Come back to the breath – inhale, take the world deep into your lungs; exhale, give yourself back fully. This is what the body says: release the peace that lives within your skin."
Source: The Body Politic of Peace
Colossians 2:8-23
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’? All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.
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