Affirmation: I let go of resentment.
Wayne Dyer in his Ten Secrets of Happiness tells his readers that one of the secrets is to affirm, "There are no justified resentments." That means we are called on to forgive every action that has bothered us, intentionally or unintentionally. How are you at doing that? Have you ever thought you were "over" something and then it reared its angry head when you least expected it? For me, I can nurse an injury to death! It can be years after the perceived hurt has occurred and the name of the offender will cause me to sit up straight and grimace and re-live, perhaps even re-tell, the horrible act committed. Boy! That will show that person. I will be justified and they will suffer because of my anger and my indignation. The truth, however, is there is only one person suffering, it is I and I have created it myself.
I was discussing with a friend that several of her dear friends had not reached out to her and her husband after he had undergone surgery. She was angry. I understood. When I was treated for breast cancer, some of the people with whom I was closest never sent a note or picked up the phone. Hundreds (and I am not exaggerating) of people reached out with such caring and generosity. It was healing and affirming but every now and then, I'd wonder about those few people who hadn't taken the time to even send me an email. When I thought of them, I'd feel resentment. I wondered why I would chose to focus on those that appeared to ignore me and not the amazing people who showed such love and care? Why is that?
We are presently in the season of Lent. I love Lent. I've felt this way for many years. It's a time of quiet. It's a time for additional reflection, a time to really focus on what is important to me in my relationship with God and others. It's a time for me to develop a new good habit or two. It's a time of hope. It is the dormant time before the rise of the flowers and blossoming of the trees. It's that time when I wait with joyful anticipation Spring and the resurrection of Christ. It's a time when my heart feels full with what is to come.
Lent has taken on a very different meaning for me over the years. As a child we would be encouraged to give up some favorite food and also to fill a small paper box with coins for the hungry children of a far off country. I'm sure I tried to honor the requests. I'm sure I didn't do too well at it either. Then, as a young adult I rebelled. I decided all those rules and regulations were silly. What purpose did it serve to give up anything and how much of a difference did my small contribution make to the poor and destitute of the world? The thing that helped me recognize the wisdom of my church's traditions was staying connected to my church. This is my home and one of the many gifts has been learning to honor our Lenten tradition.
I've taken two intentions for this 2015 Lent. The first is to dedicate each day to one person. Their name goes on the top of my journal page and I write a small prayer for them. If it seems appropriate, I send it to them. I tell them that on this nth day of Lent I am lifting them up in prayer for the entire day. I tell them how they have blessed my life and how much I treasure their friendship and I end with wishes for a day filled with love, peace and joy and many times, improved health. I sit, first thing in the morning to see who comes to mind and I make that my person for the day. Today, someone "appeared” with whom I've had quite a bit of struggle. I didn't want to offer up my day for that person. I don't really want to think about that person at all, no less keep her on my thoughts for an entire day. I felt myself retreat from the idea and see for whom else I might pray. Certainly, many other people deserved prayer more than the person I resent.
The February 24th reading in Spiritual Insights for Daily Living begins with a quote from the Mayo Clinic; "Three-fourths of our patients are passing on the sickness of their minds and their souls to their bodies." It goes on to say, Be careful of the beliefs you hold and the thoughts you repeatedly think. In Proverbs (6:27) the writer asks, "Can a man take fire unto his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" More specially, we can ask: can a man (or anyone) take fears, doubts, hated, resentments, worries into his mind, and his body be unaffected?
The Buddhist saying is, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." The teacher appeared in my reading and Jesus told us, "Forgive." How many times? "Seventy times seven." Mathew (18:21) At a recent Pink Ribbon Yoga Committee planning meeting, Nancy Hannah, one of our dedicated gifted yoga teachers had us take the pain and suffering of others, surround it with love and then breathe it transformed back out into the universe. I've been struggling with the suffering of our world. This year's news of twenty-one Coptic Christians being beheaded, people being put in cages and burned to death and the stories of the girls and women being kidnaped and abused has left me feeling weary and sad and powerless. What can I do to help the world?
In the USA today on February 23rd of this year they had a marvelous story of a women, Nareen Shammo, who gave up her job as a reporter and has tirelessly worked towards the freedom, the salvation of any woman being held hostage. She's succeeding one woman at a time. I don't feel I have that kind of power but perhaps here on this page as I share my concerns, I can encourage and enlist those 30,000 plus people who have opened this site to join me in praying for them, praying for an end to war and hatred and religious intolerance. Use a rote prayer, make up a prayer, breathe prayerful energy into this world but do something!
The second intention I've adopted for Lent is, "I let go of resentment." It means I have to dig deep within and forgive those I have struggled with. It means I must pray for not only those I comfortably hold in my heart but for those I don't want to embrace. It means I have to pray for my enemies and even the terrorists. Perhaps, through the power of prayer, a heart will soften; maybe many hearts and the torture and abuse of the innocents of our world will decease. It all begins with me. It all begins with you. We must be the, "change I wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi.
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