Reflections

A reflection

You Are Not the Source

Apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

There is a kind of exhaustion that has nothing to do with how much you have done. It comes from trying to be the origin of something you were only ever meant to receive.

We do this without realizing it. We manage, strive, and take on more than is ours to do — out of a deep and often unexamined belief that if we don't make things happen, they won't happen. That somehow Life itself depends upon our effort.

But Jesus does not say: try harder and you will bear fruit. He says: remain in me. The branch is not separate from the vine; it lives from the Life already flowing within it. Its part is to remain — open, present, and receiving the Life it cannot originate on its own.

This is the central movement of Receive Your Life: recognizing that we are not the origin of Life, nor are we separate from it. Life comes from Source. Our part is to receive and respond.

A reflection

The Little Things

I have a quote in my kitchen that I love.

Enjoy the little things in life because one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.

It's easy to live as though our real Life is somewhere in the future. We make plans, set goals, and think about where we're going next. There can be a subtle feeling that this isn't quite it. We're on our way to the Life we're going to have someday.

But most of Life isn't made up of big moments. It's making dinner, talking with family and friends, laughing together, reading a good book, working in the yard, or doing the ordinary things that make up our days.

And maybe there really aren't many big things that aren't made up of little things. Our choices, thoughts, conversations, and ordinary moments matter. This is where our Life is being lived.

There's nothing wrong with looking forward to the future. But we don't want to miss the Life we've already been given.

Receiving your Life is a moment-by-moment practice. It's being here for the Life that is in front of you rather than waiting for something more important to happen.

A reflection

The Way of Water

Lao Tzu wrote that the highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without striving.

Water doesn't have to force its way. It meets what is there and keeps moving. When it comes to a rock, it doesn't try to make the rock go away. It finds another way through.

We can spend so much energy trying to make our lives go the way we think they should. We push against what is happening, try to control the outcome, or think we already know the way forward.

Maybe there is a simpler way.

If we take a few moments to quiet our mind, we can notice what Life is showing us. We can listen, receive, and respond to what is ours to do. We don't have to know where the whole river is going. We only need to pay attention to what is here now.

A reflection

Caring and Carrying

It is easy to confuse caring for someone with carrying them. We love them, so of course we want them to be okay. We worry, think about what they should do, try to anticipate problems, and sometimes feel responsible for how their life turns out.

It can feel like love. But over time, carrying becomes heavy. We become tired and sometimes resentful, even toward people we deeply love.

This doesn't mean we stop helping someone who needs our care. The burden isn't necessarily in what we're doing. It's in how we're holding them in our mind. When we believe their life is ours to manage, we take on something that doesn't belong to us. We may also begin to see them as less capable than they are.

We can care deeply without carrying. We can love, listen, help when it is ours to help, and remember that their Life doesn't depend on us. They have a relationship with Source too.

A reflection

Judging and Comparing

One of the ways we get distracted from receiving our Life is through judging and comparing.

When we judge someone else, we diminish them. When we compare ourselves with others, we often diminish ourselves. In both cases, we have stopped seeing the unique Life that is there. Our perception has become distorted.

It is easy to look around and ask: Who should I be? What should I be doing? Why can't I be more like that person? Who is ahead? Who is behind?

Notice how judging and comparing feel. They don't bring peace because they're rooted in doubt. For that moment, we have stopped listening to Source and started looking outside ourselves to tell us what is true.

We don't need the world to tell us where we fit. We can return to Source, listen for what is ours to do, and share the Life that is ours to receive as we interact with others.