Dear God,
So here we are at the end of August and it is amazing to me how much I have thought about meaning lately. It is interesting how I have been thinking about why I have been led to sources of wisdom and revelation at certain times. For example, I was looking for a book a few months ago and was drawn to a book by Mark Nepo, which I thought would be awesome for our book club, called Inside the Miracle. It is a gathering of his writings which draw on his experience and transformation because of his battle with cancer. Most of the people in our book club have had cancer and so I thought this was a book that would really speak to them.
Little did I know that I was drawn to this book for another reason. One of my dearest friends was diagnosed with brain cancer. Reading this book while journeying with her helped me to enter into the miracle that was to happen in her life. It gave me new understandings of my own health challenges and the journey to wholeness which was coming as a result of this opportunity. One of the things he wrote, was “The truth is that once turned inside out by experience, we're opened to the life of others and challenged to enter the endless river of feeling. Those who think they can skip over life by never showing their insides take a different road. Wholeness demands opening up and feeling. With those who won't accept this, there is less and less to share.” We have shared so much because of our experiences. We have entered into each others lives and the rivers of each others feelings. What a gift this has been for both of us.
Reading his book helped me to gain a deeper understanding of my relationships with others. I have come to understand that friendships are like rivers of their own with their own course they follow. Being able to recognize that I will be more connected to some people at certain times then others is liberating and humbling at the same time. Those who are supposed to be in my life at times will and when they are supposed to drift away they will. If we are meant to flow back into each others lives we will.
I have been reminded to just go with the flow. Things will happen in my life as they are supposed to. I need to open myself up to riding this journey called life and embracing the experience. As Nepo wrote, “I've learned over and over through my breakdowns and rearrangements that everything I've longed for was already close at hand. I just needed to recognize it, befriend it, love it, and embrace it. This changed what I'd been taught about willfulness and control. Tenderly, I've learned to align with the forces around me and have stopped trying to defeat them. To defeat experience is like a fish trying to defeat the very river on which its life depends.”
Thank you for guiding me to this book and for the lessons it is teaching me.