A CASUAL COMMENT

Chris said something very interesting to me this past week that has been lingering in my mind ever since. She said, “Nothing seems to rattle you anymore.” I, of course, assume that she meant that as a compliment or at least a positive observation. Whatever is the case, she is right. Admittedly I have never been a person who has gotten especially “rattled” anyway.

As a matter of fact, many years ago when I was having lunch with some clergy colleagues of mine during Annual Conference in Ocean City, the discussion got around to talking about the stresses of ministry. A couple of people in our little group were apparently feeling overwhelmed by the problems of their particular churches. Others were sharing some ways that they dealt with anxiety and conflict.  Then I mentioned the fact that I meditate every day and that helps me to relax and not get swept along with the tides of tension. Then one of them said, “Jack, if you get any more relaxed, we’d have to carry you into the Conference sessions.”

As I've gotten older, I still meditate regularly and it continues to be a meaningful practice of my spiritual life. Of course, Chris’s comment implies that she has seen me lose my cool sometimes, but that she has not seen it happen for quite a while. I don’t think it is entirely the result of getting older—it’s more a case of a slight paradigm shift in my psyche.

That part which is related to my age is the result of looking back over the years of my life and realizing that whatever issues or problems I have had, they have long ago disappeared in the dust of the passing of time. In other words, to a large extent, other than the invaluable lessons I learned in some cases from them, they have become irrelevant to my present life. So, if that is true, then the things that happen in the present must be made of the same material that, in turn, will also become irrelevant to my well-being. i.e. - they cannot destroy my soul.

Another thing that comes into play is the simple recognition that we humans tend to make far too much out of little things that really don’t matter very much in the first place, and we give those little things permission to take over our emotions and cause conflict, stress, and sleepless nights. We make them so important that we lose perspective on things that really matter like relationships and happiness and harmony and living a good healthy life.

Where the big things that do matter are concerned, we are at the mercy of the flow of life. And yet, we have at our disposal no less than the power of hope and prayer and a wondrous creating Spirit behind all there is—a Spirit that urges us to let go and let God.