Sisters and Brothers in Christ

There’s nothing like a new car–the smell, the feel of it. Some people really get excited about what kind of auto they ride around in. For me I guess I’d be more excited about a new Harley! Possessions have a way of provoking feeling from us human beings whether they are big ticket items or smaller mementos. Yet I discover that trouble isn’t far away when I place too much emphasis or meaning on the feeling I get from my possessions. That’s when my possesions start owning me.

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi wrote:

Inside the Great Mystery that is,
we don’t really own anything.
What is this competition we feel then,
before we go, one at a time, through the same gate?

Ouch! In that simple poem I am brought back to the awareness that all that I think I have is nothing but star dust and will eventually return to star dust. How empty my life is if I place in things the importance of my happiness or my life’s meaning. In the end it is dust.

So is there a way to live beyond the mundane competition for dust? I believe there is. What do you find more satisfying–the nice smell of a new car or the unrequited hug from a child or lover that speaks volumes without uttering a single word? While stuff that I collect will eventually turn to dust the experiences of love and loss, of joy and sadness, of pain and happiness will never fade away. They are a rich mine of blessing.

How do we explore that mine? It can only be done if we are willing to die before we die. That is what Lent/Eastertide is all about. If I am willing to die to my attachments to stuff then I will find that I am more alive to the moment of my wife’s embrace or a child’s smile or the simple beauty of an unfolding spring flower.

In moments like those there is no competition only celebration. The stone to the tomb has spun away crazy and new life and light abound.

What do you own? What do I own? Nothing. Even the breath I take in this moment is a gift from God so why not relax and enjoy it?

Joel t