Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you.
All things pass.
God never changes.
Patience achieves all it strives for.
Those who have God find they lack nothing.
God alone suffices.
St Teresa of Ávila
Worry and anxiety can affect our lives and knock us 'off our centre'. Here I am referring to the everyday concerns and issues that creep up on us and suddenly create an emotional rain-cloud on a sunny day. When this happens, we don't want to be told, 'Don't worry about it!' We want to be understood.
I also find time is usually a good healer. By the next day, I may look back at the cause of my worry with new insight and less angst.
Other ways that help to recentre me is to distract my mind with some activity. Going for a walk, for example, becoming absorbed in a creative hobby, or talking to a wise and trusted friend. Mindfulness and Meditation practices are also helpful. They encourage us to breathe out, to let go, relax, and be present, as St Teresa of Avila and Jesus of Nazareth suggest in today's reflection.
Poem 6
Love's Acceptance
If your child was hungry
and asked you for something to eat,
would you ever consider giving them a stone?
If you then, as contrary as you are,
naturally give your children good gifts,
will not Love, who created you,
give you good things when you ask? (1)
Do not worry about your life,
what you are going to eat
or drink or wear.
There is more to life than food and clothing.
Look at the birds in the sky.
They never sow nor harvest
or store their food in barns.
Yet Love feeds them.
Are you not as valuable as they?
Can any of you add a single hour to your life
by worrying?
Do why worry about your clothing?
Notice how the wild flowers grow;
they neither work nor weave;
yet I tell you,
even the richest King, in all his glory
was not clothed like one of these.
If Love clothes the flowers of the field,
which are alive today and tomorrow
have withered and gone,
won't Love then care for you? (2)
Five sparrows are sold in the market
for two coins.
Yet not one of them is forgotten
in Love's sight.
In fact, even the hairs of your head
are all numbered!
Love values you more
than you will ever comprehend. (3)
Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and good will on your journey.
Phil
___________
1. Matthew 7:9-11
2. Matthew 6:25-30
3. Luke 12:6,7
The Poem is taken from my book, Awakening the Spirit: Poems of Divine Love, Tawera Press,2011
