Thursday, February 27, 2020

Lenten Reflections, Day two, Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Our will or God's will for us?


Day two, Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Our will or God’s will for us?

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose of forfeit their very self? Luke 9: 24-25

We live our lives on the path of the ego dichotomizing. We are constantly forced to choose between “this or that.” “Both and” is usually out of our awareness.

God is the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves which has created our own hell. We humans think we are the author of our own existence and can call our own shots and do our own thing. We are arrogant and prideful and deeply dishonest and inauthentic and disingenuous. Lent is a time of humility. Lent is a time when we give up our illusions of control. Lent is a time when we give up our willfulness for a willingness to discern and do God’s will for us. Lent is the time when we give up our faith in dualism and put our faith in the nondualistic presence of God’s love.

In Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve step programs we read the second step which is “came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” That is what Jesus is suggesting that we do when He says that for whoever wants to save their life will lose their separate willful ego.

The third step of Alcoholics Anonymous is “made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God.” This Jesus states as “what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, but lose their very soul?” We become aware of our true Self when we give our faith in our little, individual ego self.

Lent is that time when we reflect on this question of which we will choose: the path of the ego or the path of the Spirit? Will we pursue our own will or focus on discerning God’s will for us? Will we choose the separate path of the ego or the magnificent, mysterious path of the Spirit back into Oneness?

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