You can listen to this week’s Devotional here
Author: Tom Riis
I don’t know about you, but for me, the month of August almost always equals Stress. Uncomfortable transitions on every hand! New homes in unfamiliar places, challenging new jobs, changing schools, even moving to new grade levels in school. All of these can bring high amounts of anxiety. Personal upheavals caused by illness, death, loss of friends by relocation, and a general sense of unease with all the changes going on around us (not to mention scorching end-of-summer heat) can daunt even the most fearless souls. Like a tortoise going into its shell, I find myself wanting to scream, “Just stop. Everyone go away. I’m too busy. Leave me alone to feel sorry for myself.”
Spiritual advice from friends at times like this may seem vague, insubstantial, even annoying. Just more chatter. Yet, healing wisdom in the words of modern contemplatives such as Thomas Keating and Richard Rohr can bring us to a better place. The idea of the True Self (a concept that I have trouble understanding) and which is opposed to Ego or the False Self, suggests a path through our stress-filled troubles. Rohr has written, “The True Self is not created by anything you have done right or wrong. Nor can you lose it by doing anything good or bad. The True Self is not formed by adhering to any requirements; it’s about relationship itself—the quality and capacity for connection. . . . [As] the Letter to the Ephesians says, ‘pray always’ (6:18). You pray always whenever you act in conscious and loving union with things, “be they family, friends, the natural world, or God as you understand them.
As I prepare to move across the country, leaving my home of 30 years in Boulder, the stress has been palpable. Too many boxes to schlep; too little time. Too many chores; not enough energy to do them. But the rewards have also been great. Chances to deepen connections with old friends and make new ones, opportunities to empty mental and physical spaces of useless stuff. Just taking time to listen and be with people—what a balm! Slow down. Breathe deeply, I say to myself. Recall that amidst the craziness of change, stress, and anxious uncertainly the True Self, the Connecting Self, the Self that seeks Union and Simplicity, is there somewhere within. It only waits to be recognized.
