Thursday, August 2, 2007

My dearest God,

Someone very close to me asked me to teach her how to meditate. She has some physical problems and both her traditional and non-traditional doctors suggested that meditation could help her. She was looking for a step by step method to meditation. I told her meditation didn't work that way.

"Meditation is more about trust." I said to her. "Trust?" She asked me. "Yes, trust." I responded to her. Trust is about surrender. Surrendering one's own need for control. Leaning toward God. Letting go of whatever you're holding on to. Embracing your situation rather than fighting it. Giving it to you. "Meditation is not about getting better," I told her, "but rather about trusting God, being present with God." I could tell she was perplexed.

My close friend was interested in lessening her pain, not necessarily meeting God, although she was intrigued. I told her that meditation was a way to deepen one's life, to live in your presence. "But when you had cancer didn't you ask for healing?" She asked me. "No, not once. I prayed to be with God, to be present with God, to trust in God." I answered. "You see, if you meditate as a way toward healing, then healing may be all you will receive. But if you pray to be close to God, then God's presence will present itself in many ways. Healing may come, but presence is of greater value than healing."

I'm a ceaseless worker in trust. Everything in my life requires my trust in you, everything. Anything that I take hold of, anyone, any situation, calls for my trust in you. I cannot compartmentalize some things as outside the divine arena. All things call for trust. I can do things alone if I so choose. But why? Why would I want to? Why would I choose a purely human venture? Why not consider the sacred dimensions of life situations? Trust leads me to you, every time.

My friend left with much to ponder. A very devout Christian at one time in her life, she has been blown by the winds of betrayal, grief, loss and sorrow. She has not recovered from pain she endured thirty years ago. She has lost her way, can't find the path. She wants to find her way back.

Interesting. This person helped me discover a way to God more than 50 years ago. She showed me a genuine love for God and I learned a lot from her. And now I am leading her.

Our lives
were woven together
by blood
sixty plus years ago.
You were
the thread
that bound us together.
In and out
of each other's lives
we have taken
circuitous routes
that have lead us
back to one another.
Together
we will journey once again
toward you.

Love, Andrea