We text a son or daughter: Did you get to school or work on time?
The sun is rising or setting, and we're logging on to Facebook: Who's celebrating a birthday or an anniversary? Who's in the hospital, or at Urgent Care? Who is in a really foul, "down" mood? Who's posting playful memes? Who's posting really cute new family photos, or sharing delicious recipes?
Or we check Messenger: Did someone die, or get a divorce?
Or we quickly turn to Instant News: What's the weather going to be? What has Congress, or the President, done or said NOW? Is the stock market rising or falling? Did my place of work just close? Or, if we're globally conscious, what's happening to the rest of the human family right now?
The Internet is a wonderful Connector in many ways, keeping us closer in each other's hearts through being able to share news, words, photos, with each other, especially when we're concerned and full of questions about someone's welfare.
But, of course, this Instant News All the Time never answers those basic, unanswerable questions: Will my hopes and dreams ever be fulfilled? Will my life remain, or ever be secure? What new tragedy or victory for my family or me lies right around the corner? Will I ( or my loved one) survive this serious illness, or crisis, or not?
And, or course, there are the biggest questions of all: How long will my loved ones live? How long will I live?
Our egos always want to be in control, so every day we worry, fret, and fume over the unanswered questions, because of course, we tell ourselves, if we could KNOW What Was Coming, we'd be able to make better decisions, handle it all better.
But, if we were truly honest with ourselves, we'd admit that, for us, being in control of our lives would mean NEVER HAVING TO LET GO. Never to let go of anyone we love. Never to let go of health, or security. Never to let go of precious possessions. Never to die!
But that's not what life really is about, is it?
We fret and we fume, we obsess, and we reject the reality of life, what life really is. Because life is all about letting go, letting go on a daily basis.
Letting go of knowing what's going to happen next.
Letting go as we kiss someone goodbye in the morning at the back door.
Letting go of a favorite dress or shirt when it's too worn to wear anymore.
Letting go of a friend who moves away.
Gradually, as our bodies age, letting go of energy and health.
These daily "letting go's" are the "small deaths" we endure. Deaths to our false ideas that we can control life, that we can even control God.
If we spend our lives worrying about the next moment, the next moment can never happen for us. Our eyes will have blinders on, and we will fail to recognize the reality of what life is providing for us in this singular moment in time, the challenges, the opportunities. We don't need to know precisely what is happening, we don't have to control all the particulars. We only have to have faith, have trust, have the courage, to LET GO of what we would have wanted to happen, and to EMBRACE the reality of what IS happening.
Because that's where God is - in the Reality of each moment. God, the Hidden Provider, the Gentle Guider. God Whose love cradles us from birth to death, and through to the Other Side of death. God, Who promises to bring good out of every tragedy, to give us wisdom and joy to balance our afflictions.
The biggest illusion we need to let go of is the illusion that we can control out lives. We can't, because we are not God.
The second great illusion we have to let go of is the illusion that we live our lives separate from God. God is always with us! We only need to let go and fall into the depths of God's Love to find the the faith, the trust, the courage we need to face every moment of our lives.
The paradox is that to live life to the full, we can't clutch everyone and everything to ourselves in a death grip. To live life fully is to hold everyone and everything lightly, as God's possession, not ours. Once we hand all life to God, we have let go, have begun to empty ourselves, to strip down for the final journey we go on. In the moment of our death, whenever that comes, we come naked before God.
Jesus showed us the way of self-emptying, the way of letting-go, the way of the Cross. the dying to self that leads to resurrection:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mind as Christ Jesus: Though he was God, he didn’t think of equality with God as something to grasp, rather, he emptied himself, taking the very nature of a servant, being born a human being. And being found in the form of a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ~ Philippians 2:5
Simply put, Jesus was not afraid to die. Why? Because from the beginning, as he humbly chose a mortal body, he accepted that he had put on a mortal body that would die one day. He came from eternity to a place where everyone and everything was transitory. He held fast to all that mattered, and That was his Father's Will. He knew, and experienced, that all reality was soaked with the loving Presence of this Heavenly Father of us all. And so, he could tell us not to be afraid, to put our hearts in heaven and collect spiritual treasure instead of transitory earthly possessions. Jesus did not fear death, but looked death straight in the face, measuring all he said and did by how it would affect his life beyond death. Jesus rejoiced in living because Jesus knew Life is always Wonder-full because God is Wonder Itself.
Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. recounts that Shelley Chapin Drake, a beloved friend of the Center for Action and Contemplation, recently passed away after living with cancer for many decades. A few weeks before she died, Shelley wrote:
"Kirk ( her husband)and I decided, early on, that what we long to surrender to is not an ideal or a safety net, but Wonder itself. . . .
"[We] have held on to the concept of Wonder as a guiding concept . . . a way to focus our attention in these days when life is so uncertain. We have absolutely no idea what the author of Love is asking of us . . . except we are fairly certain the Beloved One is not asking us to lay claim to any certainties at all. We are fairly sure that the Beloved is simply holding us tight . . . holding us close . . . holding us in Pure Love in the palm of Love’s hand. . . . And what else could we possibly ask for?
"Living in the Wonder teaches us to 'show up' . . . and showing up' teaches us to 'be with' the Beloved. . . .
"The Beloved is not in a far-off land, waiting for us to catch up with him (or her). . . . The Beloved is Love and there is no other place for Love to be than in the act of holding tightly to you and to me. Deep within the recesses of our very being, we are held . . . known . . . treasured . . . not 'out there' somewhere, but in the very Wonder of Love . . . in the very seat of the Heart . . . in the very core of the Soul.
"The more we live in the Wonder and welcome our placement in this very heart of Love, the easier it is to trust . . . to 'release our fears' . . . to live without proclaiming certainties . . . to settle into this very core we can only call Love."
Let go. Let go of the Need to Know Everything, and To Know It Right Now. Let go of the "need," the obsession, to demand certainty. Let go of the need to possess. Let go of fears of the unknown. Let go - and fall into the waiting Arms of eternal Love by embracing every moment. Because that is where God lives, inside us, around us, in the Present Moment.