what awaits is PEACE … (04/04/13)
on SALVATION & FACING FEAR
Why are we so afraid?
… so afraid to swim in oceans open,
… so afraid to forgive those who have wronged us,
… so afraid to take 30 minutes each day to reach out to the downtrodden,
… so afraid to champion animals’ equal right to live,
… so afraid to stand up to unjust wars of governments corrupted.
… so afraid to choose & cherish a “bigger” & more Loving God.
I’ll admit, there are more than a few fears confronting us, and that more than a few of those fears are reasonable ones to have.
After all, there are sharks in the ocean that could very well eat us alive, … and yet doesn’t our angst already consume our days?
After all, those who have hurt us deserve to be abandoned, … and yet in doing so don’t we also abandon our Selves?
After all, the homeless are indeed quite “filthy”, … and yet doesn’t seeing them this way make us reek of callousness?
After all, meat packers & butchers tell us that we need to eat animal flesh to be healthy, … and yet don’t those murders make our Souls deathly ill?
After all, warring governments tend to lock up brave protesters who stand tall for Peace, … and yet isn’t our cowardly silence already a prison?
After all, believing in the “wrong God” could get us sent straight to Hell, … and yet isn’t a life of judgment its own damnation?
I, too, have my fears, my Friends … I, too, have an ego that encourages me to criticize those who are different, reject those who have hurt me, and condemn those who are “wrong”. And I freely admit that reaching out to Care for the ones we most fear is a deeply terrifying proposition …
AND I also know the Truth that doing so anyway is the greatest of Journeys and the most Bliss-full of Ways.
It is the most narrow of paths, this Loving our enemies.
It is a trek into the darkened wilderness, this being humble as a child.
AND YET, once we have the courage to tread its straight route anyway — past our judgments & through our fears — then what awaits us just over the horizon is the most brilliant of birthrights …
What awaits us is PEACE.
Happy trails …
;