After my shower, I began my day as I always do – with some prayer and meditation time. And the message God gave me during that time was so RIGHT ON, POWERFUL and FUNNY that I wanted to share it with you.
It came with an image of me being on a river in a canoe – to which Spirit said..
“Just because you have all of this energy does not mean you have to paddle furiously.”
LOL!
I use this image of being in a canoe on a river a lot. It is a metaphor that recognizes that there IS a current carrying us through life – a current of Grace, Energy, Love. And WE don’t create this river or current any more than WE created the hearts that are beating in our chests and giving us Life. Any more than WE created the oxygen that surrounds us and that we breathe
in that gives us Life.
The same is true for ANY resource we need to live – including money – we are not the Source of it. We are the RECEIVERS of gift, blessing and grace.
The One who created this River and who is giving us Life is what many call God – but you may call Universe, Spirit, the Divine, Source or some other name.
The problems begin when we forget this. Or we don’t trust it. We won’t let ourselves surrender to where the River of Our Lives is carrying us and so, instead of working WITH the River’s Flow, we FIGHT the River to go where WE think we need to go OR we paddle furiously, non-stop, so as to get where we’re going as fast as possible.
Either way, we create unnecessary struggle in our lives. We do not trust the River or, perhaps, we don’t know how to work WITH the River – sometimes paddling, sometimes not. In the process, we MISS the beauty of BEING on the river and the beauty of WHERE WE ARE NOW.
This, my friend, is the “back story” for this morning’s message. So is the fact that I am guilty of all that I have described about FIGHTING the River or paddling furiously all the time to get “there” faster. It is how I have lived most of my life – especially when it comes to money.
But the past three years, I have been really practicing letting the River carry me. I have been learning to trust the River and I have been learning to trust myself ON the River. To paddle when it is needed, to rest when it’s not. To be carried by the River’s Flow AND to enjoy the journey.
In many ways, I have been learning to let go of control and SURRENDER to the River’s Flow. And this has been true as I have been preparing for the new Retreat I’m facilitating next week, appropriately called Surrender to Abundance-LIVE!
With ONE week to go, it’s as if God knew that I was going to be tempted to start paddling furiously to make sure everything will be ready in time and to make sure everything will go the way I want things to go.
And the invitation (and reminder) of this morning’s message is for me to continue letting the current carry me…. no “furious paddling” required. And to use the energy I have today for that as well as ENJOYING the journey – including the unexpected things that will inevitably arrive.
Because, my friend, what I’m also learning is that it’s okay to have energy “left over” at the end of the day. We don’t have to use it all, to go from abundance to scarcity, from plenty to none.
(This, BTW, is the same thing I support my clients to recognize and experience when it comes to money. It’s okay to have “extra”.)
So, , if you find yourself “paddling furiously” through your day (or thinking you NEED to), I invite you to remember the message I was given this morning.
I invite you to stop, take some DEEP breaths and reconnect with the Flow of Life… and the Source of All Life… and trust that you are not alone and it’s not all up to you.
I invite you to TRUST in Abundance, i.e., that you are part of something bigger than you (and more loving, creative, powerful, generous, intelligent, compassionate, etc.) and you have access to all that you need – moment by moment my moment. I then invite you to adopt a “paddle as needed” approach to accessing it!
Happy canoeing! :-)
Blessings on your day and weekend!