Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
Letting Go and Trusting
In all circumstances be humble; never insist on your own way. Present your desires and opinions simply and confidently, and then leave all things in My hands. The outcome will be according to My designs and I will not be thwarted by the resistance or shortsightedness of My human agents.
A Benedictine Monk. In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart
--The Journal of a Priest at Prayer (p. 88). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition.
There is an old adage that says “Old age brings wisdom”. I have no doubt that there is truth to that statement. Yet, I can attest that there is still much in me that is still around 15 years old in how I approach life. I have learned, however, and perhaps this is a sort of wisdom, that just because I have come to a conclusion, that that automatically means that I am right. Most of the time I am not. Especially when it comes to judging other people, or even some difficult situations. When I lose that bit of sanity that I might not be right, is when some trouble can start. My bull-headedness comes from my lack of trust in others, or even in God.
When I feel anxious, I will at times put on my shoulders the task of setting the ‘world’ right and everyone in it. It is not arrogance, though it can look like it, but the opposite. It is the fear that the center will not hold, that things fall apart. Well they do, it is just that when I am off-center I will find myself falling into inner chaos when I am fighting what I perceive to be chaos all around me.
The only way that I have found that helps me in certain circumstances that I feel overwhelmed, is to embrace it, ground myself, and then do ‘one thing at a time’. It is amazing how that settles me. To embrace suffering, anxiety, and outer chaos, as well as inner chaos, does take a certain level of trust that has to be made, at least for me, in a conscious deliberate manner. It is an act of trust in God, and not some naïve idol that may still lurk in my conscious, or unconscious mind.
For me that is what prayer really is. To embrace reality in trust, to understand powerlessness, which paradoxically leads to a different kind of empowerment. The ability to be present, and not seek to escape through anger, or some other less than constructive way in dealing with life.
Shortsightedness can cause a great deal of harm in my life, and I guess perhaps for our species as a whole. Trust in the Infinite is absurd to many, but a lack of trust has also led us down a road that seems to be getting steeper by the day, and now perhaps impossible to change course that may lead to a brighter future. Knowing that we will all have to answer for every aspect of our lives, how we treated others, as well as ourselves, can actually help us to be more attuned to another way of doing things.
What is the problem in the world? Well as C.K. Chesterton said: “Sir you asked me what the problem in the world is; I am”. So if I am the problem, what can I do to help matters? Trust God, know that I am beholden to do God’s will, and that will lead to inner healing, and hopefully help in the healing in those around me.
Our governments can’t help us. Both the Republicans and Democrats are just as much a part of the problem as anything else. Christians are not supposed to rule the world or to form a political party, we are to be a leaven in society, not allow ourselves to be absorbed by the self-destructive games that are so much a part of any culture.
I am naked before God, nothing is hidden, that can lead to freedoms since it is al known anyway, I might as well find out what is actually in me, how I fail and succeed, in other words, the road to freedom is humility, which is, in fact, a deep understanding of reality in all of its beauty, and yes cruelty. Yet, not to despair, but to take the next step in hope, and yes trust.
The more I understand, the less I really know—Br.MD