A number of my recent blogs have asked the question, “What’s the point of even trying when the whole world seems to be spinning out of control?” Consequently, I should not have been surprised to have Bishop Curry speak to these issues when I sat down to read Love is the Way. Instead of paraphrasing his remarks, here are some of Bishop Curry’s comments that spoke to me.
—Change is a long slow march heavenward, with as many twists and turns as there are branches growing on a tree. Accepting that change doesn’t necessarily conform to any human timeline or plan is the first step. The second step is to stop worrying and start moving.
—What I’ve Learned over the years is that my job is to sow the seeds. That’s everyone’s job. The error or youth (and old age?) is thinking that you’ve only succeeded when you can see, touch, or taste the fruit.
—all human progress and change for the good, whether individual or social, is the result of struggle, often long and laborious. Our task is to do our task, not to do every task needed for progress to happen. When we can accept that, we free ourselves to do what we can with the time and resources that we have.
—Faith is taking your best step and leaving the rest to God. The only thing we need to know is this: The nature of progress is a struggle, and if we give up because victory seems so far away or outside our individual grasp that we can’t see it, then we’ve lost already. Our job is to do our job and to let God do God’s job.
This idea of doing what we can and letting the rest go is basic to the 12-step program, by the way. None of us can live free until we are willing to accept our limitations which is the essence of the 12 steps, but most markedly, the first 3.
Step One: Admitted that we are powerless over others and trying to make people think and do what we want simply makes our lives unmanageable
Step 2: Came to believe that a Power Greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, . (insanity being repeating the same behaviors and feelings over and over while expecting different results.)
Step 3: Turned our wills and our lives over to the care and guidance of God as we understood God. (Like any relationship, our relationship with the God of our understanding will grow as we act on whatever insights we have at any point in time. Our faith and trust develop as we behave as if our longed-for change is already coming into being.)
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking as He did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will, so I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
