In Yoke

A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within. -Eudora Welty I am sitting in my chair at home in my study, looking out on the ancient live oak trees in the forest that has become my neighborhood. There is everything right here in my hometown, Waco to satisfy me: birds, flowers, trees, reasonable comfort, loyal companions, and the precious opportunity of selfless service. Right here is everything I need for complete happiness always. But as I look out of my study window I see a man with a camper-trailer driving down my street heading for the open road. Somewhere in my mind is the uneasy stirring of a wanderlust, a pent up desire to jump into that camper and go out chasing rainbows to find the pot of gold at the end. This belief that somewhere out there is the land of joy dogs my footsteps wherever I am. Contentment is the ego search of my short life. The truth is that as long as I look upon happiness as something outside of me, I shall never be...

One who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment. ~ Meister Eckhart Most of us identify ourselves with our pet opinions. Then, when we are contradicted, we take it personally and get upset. If we could look at ourselves with some detachment, we would see how absurd this is. There is scarcely any more connection between me and my opinions than there is between me and my car. I have a close friend who is devoted to her Volkswagen Bug. If I compliment her on it, she is pleased; if I tell her what her neighbor says about Volkswagens , she feels insulted. But why? Where is the connection? She is not a VW Bug. Once we realize at a deeper level of consciousness that we are not our opinions, most of the resentment in differences of opinion disappears. There is nothing wrong with disagreement; in fact, sometimes it is necessary to disagree. But we should do so with complete respect for the other person. ~ Easwaran This form of detachment is a practice tha...

"God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself insofar as you are a created being and let God be God in you." -Meister Eckhart In those moments when we forget ourselves - not thinking, "Am I happy?" but completely oblivious to our little ego -we spend a brief but beautiful holiday in heaven. The joy we experience in these moments of self-forgetting is our true nature, our native state. To regain it, we have simply to empty ourselves of what hides this joy: that is, to stop dwelling on ourselves . To the extent that we are not full of ourselves, God can fill us. "If you go out of yourself,"says Johannes Tauler, "without doubt he shall go in, and there will be much or little of his entering in according to how much or little you go out." ...

4/2007: C. Sam Smith, personal testimony transcript—shared at Calvary Baptist Church, Waco. I shared this testimony from the pulpit of the church April, two years ago. I found the transcript today when I was clearing out some files from an old external drive. Being born again implies that what one’s life has been in the past is not alive anymore. In my experience--being born again has required a process of repeated transformation, from the old to the new. This is perhaps a lifelong process, of continuous falling and getting back up again. It is embarrassing to recount all the things I have done, and the things I’ve put my wife and family through, due to my own egocentric ungratefulness, myopia, self absorption and impulsiveness. Over the years it seems that the Spirit has systematically peeled layer after layer of falsehood off my essential true self, enabling me to cease living a lie and to face the honest truth about my own weaknesses. For many years I sought to compensate fo...

I don't get God. Is God an 'it', or is 'He' a 'He'? or is 'she' a 'she'? or a spirit without form, or simply wide open nothingness, or is God-- a burning bush? I don't really know. and within my own reasoning, I don't "get" God. Jesus made it plain. He said to address God as our Father, or even Abba ---"Daddy". Jesus anthropomorphized the Source, the Creator, by ascribing to him the characteristics of love and care, like dear ol ' Dad. I like it, but I have a hard time believing it...even coming from the Master of all. Sometimes I can approach God as a father. Other times, when I am confused about why certain folks have to die (like my 32 year old niece who was the absolute sweetest girl ever made) if God is as powerful as he is said to be, then...why?...or others whom I know well ---that have terrible things happen to them. I know, I have heard it over and over--"this world is not my home, I am j...

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. -Saint Francis of Assisi When we ask to be made instruments of peace, what we are really asking for is the boundless determination to empty ourselves of every state of mind that disrupts relationships- anger, resentment, jealousy, greed, self-will in any form. Our first priority is to reform ourselves; without that, how can we expect to help other people reform themselves? It is the living example of a man or woman giving all they have to making love a reality that moves our hearts to follow. We do not need a bumper sticker that says,"You are following an instrument of the Lord." Our everyday actions speak for themselves. ~ Easwaran The picture above is of the "baby" our Essential Self, beginning to grow, with the help of the Spirit, who is embodied like a Mother. I really love this image. When EE says "our first priority is to reform ourselves", it seems to me that it is ou...

It is permissible to take life's blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away. -Meister Eckhart In order to live in freedom, we must learn to accept a temporary disappointment, if necessary, when it is for our permanent well-being. Sometimes, when we want to eat something that appeals to us, or when we want to eat a little more than is necessary, we can't help feeling disappointment as we push away from the table. We cannot help thinking that we could as well have stayed on for five more minutes of pleasure, forgetting that it would probably be followed by five hours of stomachache at night. The right time to get up from the meal is when we want just a little more. This is real artistry, real gourmet judgment: when we find that everything is so good that we would like to have one more helping, we get up and walk away. ~Easwa...