I was asked to write about what I am an “expert” at. I drew a blank. Maybe I’m an expert at seeing the perfection of imperfection, the forgiveness of unforgiveness (forgiving unforgiveness), and UNsabotaging the saboteur?
This may seem unrelated, but I feel a “Sponsor” is most useful in two domains: 1) they serve to make the uncomfortable comfortable, and 2) they make the comfortable uncomfortable.
Here’s an interesting quote that bears on both science and religion equally. “No truth so sublime but it may be trivial to-morrow in the light of new thoughts. People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson. Yet in Ecclesiastes, the Preacher said there is nothing new under the sun.
I’m an expert at being a wandering generality. I allow my mind to wander and trust I’ll be guided to land on truth as a hummingbird floats from flower to flower drawing nectar. I ask God to direct my thinking and then TRUST the outcome of “my” thinking is protected, guided, and that everything will work out no matter what. I’ve said it hundreds of times, since it’s not all about me, that “in God’s Economy, nothing is wasted.”
If you’re in recovery, you’ve heard, “It’s none of my business what others think of me” but few people seem to take this farther. “There is One who has all power…” means to me that I don’t get any (and I’m good with that). I turned my will and my life over to the care of God, so from that point forward, it’s none of my business what I think of me. My business is what God thinks of me, and what that is, I might never be clear about (since it’s not about me).
Truth without paradox is useless. Paradox brings me (us?) to the end of myself (ourselves), as does powerlessness, so the first step in expertise is getting out of the way of thinking for…oneself. Too many people view God as a “crutch”. Maybe one’s true crutch is thinking God is a crutch?
With surrender being the resting point of paradox, I can, therefore, move into new territory. The Set Aside Prayer is to ask God to help me forget everything I know about God so I can learn more about God’s Terms. Clean the slate. If forgiveness helps one do that, then forgive. But what about taking forgiveness to its next level? Don’t be offended in the first place? How can a person be offended when their eyes are securely fixed on God? Is there ‘offense’ in God? If I’m not offended, there’s nothing to forgive. Only God is the Judge. Turn it over.
I Am more than what I or anyone else thinks of me. I AM MORE THAN MY MUGSHOT.
Let Go, add a letter, Let God.