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Wisdom Story
Anthony De Mello, in The Song of the Bird, gives the following narrative poem~humorous and wise... called "A Parable of Modern Life" ...
The animals met in assembly and began
to complain that humans were always
taking things away from them.
"They take my milk," said the cow.
"They take my eggs," said the hen.
"They take my flesh for bacon," said the hog.
"They take me for my oil," said the whale.
Finally the snail spoke, "I have something
they would certainly take away from me
if they could. Something they want
far more than anything else.
I have TIME."
Comments
When a person does not take care of herself spiritually, and this in such spiritual disciplines as silence, solitude, prayer, and spiritual reading, there is one thing certain. Certain is she complains~if even she does this~about not having the time for spiritual discipline that she does have the time for. We each give ourselves to what are our priorities, regardless of our affirmations otherwise.
There is a fear many of us have concerning taking the time to take care of ourselves spiritually. What is the fear? I surmise we know, within us, our lives will have to change. We will have to change. Our excessive self-occupation, even through our apparent doing of good, religiousness, and fallacious spirituality, will have to change.
We will have to feel vulnerable and ignorant before the Mystery and Providence. We will no longer have the sense of being in control~a feeling most of us cling to like our life depends on it. And our life does depend on it, but not the Life meant for us. We must die to that life.
Even God cannot give us the Life we long for without our taking the time to nurture a way for it to enter our hearts and grow toward completion. But how can we do that if we, through neglect of our relationship with Christ, have so avoided the longing we no longer hear its cries?
The next time you are avoiding your time daily with God~and sufficient time, not just a quick hello and, then, on your way to so-called more important matters of the day~I offer a recommendation. Do not think, "I just have not had the time, lately." Asks yourself, "Why am I choosing not to take time to care for myself spiritually?"
Remember, also, to avoid that self-justifying lie, pertaining to all relationship~and how much more so to our relationship with God~"Well, it is not the quantity of time but quality of time that matters." Forget that lie. Any close relationship demands both quantity of and quality of time. And if we are not going to give both to our Beloved Friend, then, maybe it is better just not to give any, until we can be honest with Him and ourselves.
INVITATION~Persons are invited to request membership in this writer's House of Light, a web village for persons interested in or living a contemplative life. To request membership go to www.7Villiages.com .
See next page for Purpose of OneLife and reference to a couple of the writer's written works; and reference to sources.
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