This Sunday, after a further round of intense news and general upheaval, it seems to me to be a good time for self-care. Valentine's Day arrives on Friday, but the emphasis on romantic love and friendship is apparently taking a back seat to the political drivers. It may be difficult to find your way to traditions of cards or a special expression of love. Still, in turning our attention to hearts, flowers, and candy, we are reminded that relationships matter, impacting our stability, health, support, and broader perspectives on life's events. First though, before you rush to plan any Valentine expression (or choose to ignore it all together), consider some self-care. Specifically today, I encourage you to unburden yourself.
In "unburdening yourself", I am looking at the process of letting go and letting God. Consider your personal sense of burden in your life right now and, realistically, what you can control and what you cannot control; what you can change, and what is not given to you to change. There is not a "one size fits all" answer to the question of control; rather, it is meant as a call to you, individually, to lay your burdens down.
Whenever it comes to me to lighten the load of responsibility, my mind automatically begins to echo the African-American spiritual, "Down By the Riverside". "I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, down by the riverside, down by the riverside"...and the repeating refrain, "ain't gonna study war no more." That powerful phrase links to a Biblical passage, Isaiah 2:4, "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." While the scripture carries a global message, the song is layered with individual meaning. We become students of war as we entangle ourselves in personal struggles, resentments, and arguments, as well as, when we carry the weight of responsibility to "fix" things, fix ourselves and fix others. These struggles are the burden of human life.
The song, though, is actually a joyous affirmation of the freedom that comes with spiritual release. Letting go is giving over to something beyond human effort, giving way to Grace of Life. A river has multiple metaphysical meanings, but essentially, water flowing as a river is the gift of life, packaged in all that is needed to nourish and sustain life. Indeed, our physical body is over 50% water. Water carries us. Water washes us, cleanses us, renews us. Living water can also refer to the Holy Spirit within us. Rumi writes of rain that brings the renewal and nourishment for life around us, and unseen Rain, brings Grace. When we are ready to enter newness of life, we are ready to lay down our sword (the struggle), and shield (the self protection of our ego, our isolated self), and open to Divine Grace and the gift of Love.
What about the world? What about the mess? What about all the uncertainty, threat, change? To unburden yourself is to take a bit of space, a bit of time to drop it all, and rest, restore, listen, trust. Expect unseen Grace. The river of life is flowing. (Susan Nettleton
"We can’t help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water. Milk drinkers draw close to the mother. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, shamans, everyone hears the intelligent sound and moves with a thirst to meet it. " Rumi
When you do things from your soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy. When action comes from another section, the feeling disappears. Rumi
for more poetry: https://internetpoem.com/william-stafford/a https://dominicalapat.wordpress.com/.../unburdening-myself/ https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../in-blackwater-woods-by.../