TO LIVE IN SERENITY

Isle of Iona, Scotland

Psalm 63:8 "My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me."

To forgive we need to accept.  But more.  To live in serenity, we need to accept.  Acceptance is surrendering to what is:  our circumstances, our feelings, our problems, our health, the delay of our dreams . . . The present and, even that worst of things, the past.  

When we are disturbed, it is because we find some person, thing or situation unacceptable. Until we accept it, we cannot transform it.  We cannot take action.  We are immobilized.  First acceptance, then action.  The action may--where there is contrition--be forgiveness.  When someone asks for forgiveness because they are sorry beyond all question or doubt, the choice is clear.  Who would not wish the pain a wrong causes to lift?  When we forgive we choose not to avenge.  We choose not to pay back.  Forgiveness is not "an eye for an eye."  It is love that is deserved.  

The action may also be something else.  Confrontation, setting boundaries or, in the extreme, facing endings and embracing new beginnings.  The action may be a change in ourselves.  "This is what I will do to make this day as good as it can be."  But acceptance is key (Post, Oct. 19, 2022).   

Small things:  this is my age, this is how I look, these are my abilities. Bigger things:  this is my present, this is who loves me, this is who hurt me, this is who I miss.  Even bigger:  this is what I must live with for ever and ever and I need God's help.  "You, Lord, are my rock and my salvation.  Be by my side this morning, noon and night."  

Then acceptance becomes a tool for transformation.   When we accept, we relax.  We breathe.  We let go of the struggle.  We say to God, "You lead, I'll follow."  

"This is the way my life is right now," we admit, even if I am facing the end, as every single one of us does.  "I will not wait until tomorrow to be thankful, until tomorrow to enjoy myself, until tomorrow to be grateful to be alive."  

I cannot say all that needs to be said.  I cannot think all that needs to be thought.  That would take someone more special than I.  So, in peace let us pray to the Lord.      Nina Naomi