Accepting and Blessing – an Authentic Alliance
Feeling discouraged, lost, broken, stuck, both too much and not enough? Yeah, me too. It’s time for a new alliance with our Creator – accepting and blessing.
The Miracle Elixir
Acceptance is the act of acknowledging, recognizing and surrendering to what currently is. Our financial snapshot, our weight, our relationships, our careers, our health. We are where we are. It is what it is. Wishing it away or different does nothing to help us, instead it leaves us feeling bitter and resentful. Comparison creeps in and before we know it, we have gone waaaay down the rabbit hole of self-doubt and insecurity. Ask me how I know.
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit “off” in general. Nothing specific has been “wrong”, but then something happened that felt threatening and out of my control. Suddenly, I instantly felt less than zero, raging doubt at every turn, before I could even catch my breath. You, too? It overtook me so completely, spewing my bitterness onto my husband and leaving us both depleted and spent. What the heck? How did I get here? Sure, life has been challenging lately. In fact, it’s been downright frustrating and exhausting at times. Menopause + empty nest + new marriage/town/house = overwhelmed and on-edge. I’d been holding on to the past and to life itself with a death grip, slowing killing my spirit.
HOLD LIGHTLY
The key in accepting is to accept that things are the way they are right now, not forever. Life is fleeting and ever-changing, both the good and the bad are temporary. So where do we hold on so we don’t lose our balance? Hold tightly to our Creator. Then hold our lives lightly, the way we would an egg or a small bird. Exchange the hustle and struggle and grasping for grace and peace and alignment. Release the frantic grip. Breathe deeply, soften our stance and open our souls.
When we are able to do this, life becomes a bit brighter. When we aren’t clinging tightly, desperately trying to control or manipulate, we can experience gratitude, which leads us to beauty and joy. We see the way, or at least, we see our next right step.
Holy yes
How do we let it go? We say a “holy yes”. We invite the Holy Spirit into our mess and openly acknowledge the real of today: This is my cluttered office, my sink full of dishes, my car with the peeling paint, my rented house, my jean size, my fill-in-the-blank. We give thanks and express our gratitude for the beautiful, sometimes messy, life we have. We focus on the good. We invite simplicity and order into our mess, celebrating harmony and beauty and joy. (Have you gotten your FREE gratitude journal yet? Sign up in the sidebar.)
bless the space between us
Now that we have accepted our current state and practiced gratitude for all we have (both the struggles and the successes), it is time to invoke a blessing. No, I don’t mean the blessing you say before a meal. More akin to the blessing a priest may offer or a benediction.
If we want to tap into the abundant and extraordinary lives we were created to live, we must learn the art of blessing all of life. Especially the struggles. A blessing awakens us to the power of the Holy Spirit residing in us, lighting the way, connecting us both to our Creator and to each other.
count it all joy
Blessing our struggles and difficulties opens our eyes to the gifts waiting to be discovered. The more we focus on the misery, the more we will see only the misery. But when we bless our circumstances, our circumstances begin to bless us. This isn’t a prosperity gospel. This is inviting the Holy Spirit into our midst, blessing the life we have, and opening our minds, our hearts and our eyes to the very gifts we are given daily. We learn to trust when we can “count it all joy” (James 1:2). This doesn’t mean we become Pollyanna and pretend life is never difficult. It is, very much so. But what James is encouraging us to do is to take a step back, hold this life lightly, and trust that God loves us deeply. And even our trials can cultivate extraordinary when we choose accepting and blessing.
A blessing for us today and every day:
Hello, just wanted to mention, I enjoyed this article. It was inspiring.
Keep on posting!