Mystic Musings: Lent 2/20

‘Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.”

Look what happens with a love like that—it lights the whole world.’

Hafiz, a 146h century Persian poet

Photo by Jeremy Bishop @jeremybishop

Over the past few years I needed to make a transition from “here is what I can expect from what I do” to “here is the gift I have to offer.” I will tell you that it didn’t come without some significant internal struggle. I had to experience the disappointment of unmet expectations over and over again until I was ready to simply offer my gift to the world without expecting anything in return. The good news is that those disappointments didn’t result in me giving up my gifts. They didn’t force me to find external validation somewhere else. The result was that I simply needed to learn to offer my gifts with no strings attached.

Remember, the sun shines without any expectation of reward.

Sit still, breathe, and ponder these questions:

• What are the things that “you can’t not do” no matter what?

• What are the things about your character that are simply how you show up in the world no matter the circumstance?

• What are things where the only reward you need is knowing that you shared them with others or the world?

• What are things that you do not to earn respect, influence or money, but to simply offer them as a gift?

• What are things you do where even the absence of a “thank you” changes nothing?

• What does the world or your people most need from you?