Sunday Musings – February 18, 2018
Recently, I have again been reminded that attachment is not love. Whether it is a person, an object, a job or a concept of God, when I make he, she or it responsible for my well being I have imprisoned myself and, if another person is involved, I have imprisoned him or her. All of us have heard the saying from Marques Houston’s poem, Circle, “If you love something, let it go. And if it comes back, then that’s how you know.” It is one of those little bits of wisdom that, if not careful, we carelessly throw at each other. Usually when this is thrown at us, we do not want a trite saying, but some words of comfort. We may be having a difficult time envisioning living following the death of a child, a spouse or another best friend. We may have just witnessed the death of our only means of transportation to our job. We have lost the sense of sight, hearing, smell or touch, which was essential to what we thought was our true calling. Such losses can feel devastating. Unlike the reminder in Circle, some people or things will not come back to us. Certainly every moment of every day we are faced with the fact that we cannot reclaim that moment when we have just said or done something which we desperately want to take back. It is easy to get attached to not making those sorts of blunders or mistakes. It is easy to find ourselves thinking “what if” we had done or said this or that.
This weekend in Wheeling, West Virginia the Ohio River rose above flood level. Many streets, homes and other buildings were flooded. I have yet to hear of any flood related deaths, but many will lose things, which were important to them. They may also lose savings or their budget since insurance may not cover all the losses one experiences. A partner may decide that they are not living through another flood and insist that a house or business be sold and/or abandoned. Some will realize none of these matters. Only relationships and the health of loved one matters. Some will insist that they can only be happy if a person stays or they get fully compensated for their losses. Some may go so far as to convince themselves that life is no longer worth living if they have to choose between a partner and a home on the river.
Most humans, no matter how spiritual we are, get attached to roles, jobs, a person, or things. Occasionally we may encounter a person whose only attachment is to his or her journey of faith which is different than attachment to one’s faith. A friend this week talked about a possibility of joining an order of celibate monks. That challenged me to think about my attachments to a romantic relationship and a certain level of income.
On this first Sunday in Lent in the Christian tradition we are invited to think about the twins of sacrifice and attachments.
Personally, I have much work yet to do but, for today, I will be more intentional and honest in identifying my attachments.
Written February 18, 2018
Recently, I have again been reminded that attachment is not love. Whether it is a person, an object, a job or a concept of God, when I make he, she or it responsible for my well being I have imprisoned myself and, if another person is involved, I have imprisoned him or her. All of us have heard the saying from Marques Houston’s poem, Circle, “If you love something, let it go. And if it comes back, then that’s how you know.” It is one of those little bits of wisdom that, if not careful, we carelessly throw at each other. Usually when this is thrown at us, we do not want a trite saying, but some words of comfort. We may be having a difficult time envisioning living following the death of a child, a spouse or another best friend. We may have just witnessed the death of our only means of transportation to our job. We have lost the sense of sight, hearing, smell or touch, which was essential to what we thought was our true calling. Such losses can feel devastating. Unlike the reminder in Circle, some people or things will not come back to us. Certainly every moment of every day we are faced with the fact that we cannot reclaim that moment when we have just said or done something which we desperately want to take back. It is easy to get attached to not making those sorts of blunders or mistakes. It is easy to find ourselves thinking “what if” we had done or said this or that.
This weekend in Wheeling, West Virginia the Ohio River rose above flood level. Many streets, homes and other buildings were flooded. I have yet to hear of any flood related deaths, but many will lose things, which were important to them. They may also lose savings or their budget since insurance may not cover all the losses one experiences. A partner may decide that they are not living through another flood and insist that a house or business be sold and/or abandoned. Some will realize none of these matters. Only relationships and the health of loved one matters. Some will insist that they can only be happy if a person stays or they get fully compensated for their losses. Some may go so far as to convince themselves that life is no longer worth living if they have to choose between a partner and a home on the river.
Most humans, no matter how spiritual we are, get attached to roles, jobs, a person, or things. Occasionally we may encounter a person whose only attachment is to his or her journey of faith which is different than attachment to one’s faith. A friend this week talked about a possibility of joining an order of celibate monks. That challenged me to think about my attachments to a romantic relationship and a certain level of income.
On this first Sunday in Lent in the Christian tradition we are invited to think about the twins of sacrifice and attachments.
Personally, I have much work yet to do but, for today, I will be more intentional and honest in identifying my attachments.
Written February 18, 2018
RSS Feed