Having a sweet 1 year old baby girl named Sage gives me the
perfect visual of this. She is by nature
a very snugly baby. She loves to be
held and sit close to her father, sisters and me. In those special moments, it is as if she
melts into me, her head against my shoulder, her heart against my heart—it is
as if our hearts are beating as one and our energies are joined together.
She is comfortable, relaxed to the point of falling
asleep. Her sweet coos and sighs and
breaths show how relaxed she is in that moment.
She is not struggling to be anywhere else but where she is. She is content to simply be in the comfort of
loving arms.
In the past few weeks as I was preparing to speak to a group
here locally in Pennsylvania. I was
guided to share on the topic of Relaxing into God. I came across a text where a devoted South
African nun, Francis Banks, described that she can now see that it was the
tenseness of her striving that was actually keeping her from experiencing the
presence of Spirit in her life. That Presence had always surrounded her—but she hadn't recognized it because
of the level of stress she put herself under.
She had been living with the idea that she had to constantly DO something to experience God.
As she looks back on her life, she recounts:
“I was lost in illusion; lost in glamour. I looked for the Spirit to reveal itself to
me, when all that was necessary was ‘relaxation unto God.’ The Spirit was
always with me, veiled because my physical sight could not view it. The great secret of finding that Spirit was ‘letting
go’ of self. . . I am realizing that the very tenseness of my striving was my
undoing and it barred the way to that very union which my soul longed. . .
Light, Divinity, Reality. . . all-pervading consciousness…was there for my
acceptance. Much greater progress would
have been made by ‘letting go’ of all these human images and by allowing the
spirit to absorb me. Relax and allow the
Spirit to stream through you. Swim with
the tide of the Spirit.” (from Testimony of Light)
This description resonated deeply with me. For many years I lived from a state of being
ultra-responsible, working myself to the bone, achieving the highest accolades possible
and driving my body to the point of exhaustion.
Yes, I was a Christian and I loved God deeply. But there was something I hadn’t known about
a spiritual practice – a simple call in the Bible to “Be still and know that I
am God.” And, “In God we live and breathe and have our being.”
It’s only been the past 10 years where I have begun to sit
in silence and listen. I’ve learned to
quiet the restless mind. I’ve woken up
to the beauty of just BEING in the moment.
I’ve started to experience and understand that the quiet, silent practice
of breathing and allowing the whispers of Spirit to refresh my spirit. This new way of sitting and being is profound: it has changed me, transformed my thinking and allowed me to
deepen my faith and refresh myself. I am
learning more and more each day to RELAX INTO GOD.
My spirit longs for more of this relaxing…and the funny
thing is that by taking the time to relax into God, I get the breakthrough ideas,
the insights, the a-ha moments needed to fulfill my purpose in new ways. It is the stepping back to rest that ends up
speeding me forward!
What if life is easier than we typically make it on
ourselves?
What if melting into the arms of our Heavenly Father can restore
us and renew us in a way that allows more energy to flow through us to fuel our
purpose?
What if the times of sitting silently in the Presence can lift
us to new wisdom, fresh insights and a further discovery and expression of our
gifts?
Our cultural promotes constant Doing as a symbol of
importance. It’s easy to buy into
this mentality. But we can see all
around us and in our own lives how the constant DOING causes stress, physical
disease and an erosion of our relationships.
Perhaps our opportunity now lies in beginning to experience,
practice and gain expertise in BEING and RELAXING.
Why not this week plan some time into your schedule to BE,
to RELAX yourself into God? Even 5 minutes of deep breathing in the
Presence each day may begin to renew you in a way you haven’t felt for many years.
May your week be full of new light, energy and an exuberance
for your purpose!
I’m here if needed – just drop an email to patricia@patriciaomoqui.com .
With my deepest love,
Patricia Omoqui, The Thought Dr.
www.patriciaomoqui.com
www.patriciaomoqui.com
No comments:
Post a Comment