I’m making my way, one more time, through Melody Beattie’s “More…The Language of Letting Go”. At least this time I understand the concept. At least this time I have made huge progress in that elusive, but necessary, part of life.
The arrangement of the topics over the last three days caught my interest. March 22 was “Let Go of the Future”. It cited the Moses story of him leading a group of slaves out of Israel while their daily manna was provided by God when crossing a barren desert. The most important thing about the manna was it couldn’t be saved or hoarded. It had to be consumed that day or it would quickly spoil. The people were learning to trust God that what they needed for the day would be there. They didn’t have to save or hoard for the future. Once again the ancient story speaks to us:
“Look around at what you have available, this moment, this hour. Use the resources and gifts you’ve been given. Tomorrow’s manna will come at its appointed hour.” ~Melody Beattie
March 23 was “Let Go of the Trappings”. Beattie cites the old adage of “keeping up with the Jonses”:
“While it (material things) helps to identify with each other, we are all different. So why compare ourselves on the basis of material things?” ~ Melody Beattie
March 24 brings us to “Cultivate Inner Peace”. She touched on a concept so familiar to me. I’m always saying, “Let me get past this one thing and I will have peace.” Or “I will be happy when I solve this one problem.” It took me twice through this book to finally learn that peace and happiness are something I always have because it comes from within and there will ALWAYS be problems and situations coming at me from outside of myself. There will never be a time that simply solving the present crisis will bring peace or happiness.
These three readings are summed up in my title. If we master the art of not worrying that we’ll have enough money, time, strength, etc. and trust God to “give us out daily bread” daily, and if we get ourselves straight on the place of material things in our life, we will go a long way toward cultivating that inner peace we all seek. It was a nice arrangement of the readings over the past three days and it translated, for me, into that simple equation that makes so much sense and is easy to remember.
And so, as another day goes by, I’m seriously (and I find myself mentioning this a lot lately) thinking of attacking those “trappings” trapped in my basement, and…I have written.
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