Hastily in a Hurry

 

Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from him/her/their own self ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

 

This week, we are looking backwards, around us, within us, and before us.  We have already prayed the prayer of St. Patrick, how Christ permeates and persists in every direction and dimension of our lives.  Yesterday, we turned to Oscar Romero’s profound prayer that we are part of God’s unfolding symphony which is more than we can imagine or can instantly achieve (or even perceive) in our humanness. 

 

Today, the above quote recognizes a “homelessness” that we all wrestle with ~ a restlessness that keeps urgently pushing us to do something!  We are Jacob wrestling with God.  We are both the prodigal son who leaves home and the prodigal son who stays put, criticizing the others because we constantly compare and despair.  We are in a hurry, running from life, convinced by the Silicon Valley mantra to move fast and break things!  Who cares if we leave sharp shards of glass in our wake?   Someone else will clean that up.  And Nietzsche was right, we can end up running away from ourselves.  But, don’t worry, there is another self-help book published to help you live your best life every.

 

Stop.  Wait.  Breathe.

 

I say that not to you, but to myself!  Stop.  Pause.  Listen.  Stop.  Pause.  Be.  What are you running from?  Who are you running from?  What are you resisting by gritting and grinding your teeth, so it continues to persist, no matter how many webinars you attend?  What if you are not a problem to be solved?  What if you, the beautiful broken, beloved, beheld you is enough?  Not because you are practically perfect in every way, not because you have mastered your own universe, not because you are being authentic or keeping it real, but because you are who you are right now.  You are this grand experiment made up of experiences and encounters in your life.  No one has ever collected the exact combination of moments that make you up.  No one ever will.  And your uniqueness has universality, because it can be said of every person, plant, creeping creature, soaring bird, and swimming sea monster there is.  The universality of uniqueness means that not only am I not a problem to be solved, but neither is the person who pushes the nuclear codes of my emotions today.  The question is not, “who does s/he/they think they are?”  Rather, “what happened to, in, through him/her/them?” 

 

Stop.  Pause.  Be.  Pray the prayer of St. Patrick, slowly breathing as truth for you and everyone you will encounter today.  Pray the Prayer of Romero as the mystery of life.  And be open to the One who shows up with holy interruptions and disruptions we cannot plot or plan or improve our way through.  Amen.