hiking through Mauricio's farmlands in the jungle near Puerto Viejo on the southeastern coast of Costa Rica
About halfway into our three week trip in Costa Rica, I remember waking up, dreading another hilly walk to our language school, reluctantly starting off the day. As I approached the school, I had a wake up call, or more specifically a wake up question: "Who am I going to be?"
I had been building up a litany of excuses to be tired over the last few days. Really, it had become quite a rut:
Oh - I am doing so much!
Oh - learning a language is so stressful!
Oh - I can't believe how steep, how long, how hot, how cold, how difficult, how high, how low, how complex, and just how tiring things were!
That question - who am I going to be? - helped me see that I was unwittingly setting the stage for fatigue. And ...is that who I wanted to be? Did I actually want to be tired and fatigued?? With whom and with what was I identifying myself?
I am ever so grateful to be practicing Christian Science where establishing our right identification with God is a regular discipline. I have taken to starting my day by broadening my understanding of God, the infinite and eternal Life, Truth and Love. Then I take time to understand just who I am as God's image and likeness.
- As I see God as Love, I see that I am made in the image of Love and I am naturally loving, learning and connecting with others.
- As I see God as Truth, I see that I am made in the image and likeness of all that is pure and true. I have integrity, honesty, clarity and order as my inheritance.
- As I see God as Life, I see that I am made in the image and likeness of Life - of all that is active, energizing, growing.
I could just as easily choose to think tiring and burdensome thoughts as I could choose to think thoughts of peace, order and strength. The difference is that thoughts of peace, order and strength have divine authority - are part of the spiritual substance of Life, God. Tiring and burdensome thoughts are finite beliefs, based on limitations and are ultimately, self-destructive.
So who am I going to be? A child of God made in the image and likeness of God? Or a tired and stressed mortal? When put in those terms, it was pretty easy to choose.
On the walk home from school that day, I was seeing more beauty; I identified more birds; the valley below the school was ribboned with clouds; I bumped into new friends on the way home.
I could easily identify and feel grateful that I am doing so much.
Every day I was gaining more mastery in speaking Spanish.
And every day I was seeing how beautiful, now majestic, how peaceful, how stunning, how articulate, how happy, and how timely my days were.
Who am I being? I had to agree with this: I am being the alert, active and grateful child of an all-loving, omni-active God.
To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.
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