Weekly Meditation

All the stress that we feel is caused by arguing with what is. -- Byron Katie

Katie argues that there are three types of business in the universe: our own (mine), yours (everyone else’s) and God’s (reality). Yet, rather than focusing on our own business much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our own business. Instead we think about others, “You need to get a job, I just want you to be happy, you need to get some exercise.” Or we worry about earthquakes, floods, or tornadoes. Then we are in God’s business. She asserts that staying in your own business can free your life in a way one cannot imagine.

I haven’t finished her book, but I don’t believe she is saying we shouldn’t care for our neighbor or the world. I suspect she is trying to get us focused on what is right for us and our relationship with God and our neighbors. She asks, “what is more empowering?” -- “ I wish I hadn’t lost my job, my supervisor was completely unfair.” or “ I lost my job, what can I do now.”

During Lent we focused on ourselves and our spiritual renewal. We spent a little less time focusing on someone else’s faults or arguing with reality. Through prayer, reading, and meditation we focused on our own calling. We spent a little less time stressing about someone’s faults and worked on our own relationship with God. Now that Lent has come and gone we need to remind ourselves that as every day is a new day, if we keep listening to God’s message we will eventually hear it. The struggle to keep God foremost in our lives is a difficult one but it is “ours.”