The 1927 poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, (1872-1945), always has been one of my most favorite poems. From about the age of 12, I got a hold of it and since then, no matter how far I've traveled, how long my road has been, this poem, more than any other, resonates with my soul.
Most recently the last verse of the poem "with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it still is a beautiful world," has been replaying in my mind.
Maybe because in the most recent years and times, I have experienced all of those things: sham, drudgery and broken dreams.
The thing is...I would not have changed one aspect of one day.
I give the Glory for this to God: it still is a beautiful world.
It still is a beautiful world...with all that is sham...broken...and not at all "exciting."
With all this, I would still choose to walk the walk.
You see those of us who have walked on the corpses of our broken dreams, felt the anguish of drudgery and overall disappointments in our world, know this: nothing...nothing...NO thing can replace the power...the joy...the richness...of the journey and the acquiring of Peace within our Souls, even in the very midst of these seeming crises.
Many fortify themselves with large walls and a safe life of frugal living, sticking to themselves and their own "kind," not daring to venture out beyond the circumference of their "local" communities. I honestly cannot say I blame them; the world can be a scary place if you see it only with naked, human eyes.
Yes. I have dared.
Yes. I have suffered.
Yes. I have bled.
Yes. I have shed.
I have shed...
I have shed...
so many layers of my "previous" self! This was mostly based on ego's struggle against Spirit's urging to show up more at the center of my life.
...so many layers of dreams that were built upon false premises and assumptions about the world.
..so many layers that could not see through "the sham"...and the "dreams"...that at their core had absolutely no soul.
All I feel now is...gratitude.
I feel so grateful for the pain....the sense of displacement ... and, yes, the disappointment...I must have been... to so many in choosing the "simpler way."
I have dared to live a life that is all my own...that evolved singularly from my own soul...not by imitating or emulating someone else's walk, beliefs or philosophies about life.
Sure, I've seemingly made many mistakes and missteps... and in the most recent years... my life has evolved to a level of simplicity that required no more than following
the next step, not knowing where it will lead.
It is truly living on the edge and not at all pleasant. But there is a certain freedom there.
There is an absolute freedom that comes from not knowing...not expecting...not disappointing...not caring. It may seem to those people "of the world" like defeatism...that you've given up.
Except.
Along the way, and in the midst of it all, you know you have a silent companion.
This "Presence" urges you on.
It urges you on when you have no more wind in your pipe...can feel no more wind at your back...and no more hope in your heart or soul...
Oftentimes, too, the urge to keep going also may come from the one or two friends who have remained faithful with you throughout the darkness.
They, acting as agents of God, keep nudging you forward, urging ,"You can do it. You have done it. You will do it."
I hear the voices of the people who have proven to be my best friends, some for decades, a few for just a few years, urging me on.
So, you inch along, holding on hard to any evidence that comes along that affirms for you: "I'm still here...I'm still moving...I'm still growing."
Then one day you discover the *Glory of God in the midst of the *darkness, and you gather your "belongings."
That's the time I urge you to start over...right where you are.
Don't look back.
Don't look back at the people, places and things that caused you to know a world full of "sham...drudgery ...and broken dreams."
Start over with those people in those places that are still there. Hold on to what little may be left... after the earthquake, the tsunami, the tornado struck your life.
Hold on.
Keep moving.
Keep striving.
One step at a time.
Joel and Victoria Osteen's message on Tuesday, June 14, 2011:
"This is a new season, and in order for you to rise higher, you have to break away from relationships that are limiting you. You have to develop some new friendships with people who are going to pull you up and inspire you to rise higher."
This was inspired by Proverbs 13: 20:
"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
When people see you walking in the light, they all want to join you, some even
walking so closely to you, they try to pull the very power from within you.
Those often, too, are the first ones to go, when your light begins to grow dim, as you move closer and closer inward.
For many people, what they can't see on the outside, they deny exists anywhere.
So, it is.
Don't expect people to see the light shining in you when your outer circumstances have changed or have been shattered.
People fade, as the light fades.
That's a good...no...a great thing!
What God wants you to know and to see is that you're losing nothing by losing the artifical light that surrounded you.
God is looking for your full and total illumination that comes from the center of your being.
You don't have time to surround yourself with false lights. They will just try to pull you down or back to the life they have imagined for you.
Walk away...keep walking away...no matter who they are: family, kin, enemy or friend.
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."E.E. Cummings
As God continues his "makeover" with you, don't keep waiting for it to finish before you begin to embrace yourself. Don't wait for others to embrace you first and praise you before you begin to praise yourself.
Embrace yourself...praise yourself...right when you see the "light"...right now...."with all the sham, drudgery and broken dreams" that may still surround you.
Look at you!
Look at the whole and total you that you have become...and are becoming.
God's work is never done, so there will never be a "final" to the makeover.
You'll always be a "work in progress."
So, you don't wait until your world on the outside seemingly is in "order," to begin to shine your light from within.
Let it begin to radiate now.
Don't keep it hidden.
Don't stay in the darkness of your own being.
Begin to let your light shine. Now.
Embrace yourself.
Walk into the light of your life...NOW!
As Debbie Ford, spiritual teacher, recently tweeted:
"Change doesn't happen in the future, it happens right now, by taking action in the present."
Don't forget to give all the glory to God!
Namaste',
Che'
*NOTE: See namastewholistic blog post on June 5: "Learning to Dance With and In The Darkness."
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