Monday Manna
Trusting the flow of life...
Thank you so much, my friend, for subscribing to Monday Manna. I’m so glad and humbled you are here. My prayer with this little pause on Monday mornings is to offer some nourishment (“manna”) for you — via my reflection, prayer, and painting — as you are nourishing the world around you. Together, we are watching for the ways God is with us and for us as we take one day at a time…
Good morning, kind friends, and blessings to you as we begin a new week…
A few years ago, I had this uncanny experience where the Tao Te Ching — and references to it — kept appearing over and over and over. It was in the magazine article I read, a podcast I listened to, a new book I picked up on a whim. At the time, I myself had never read this classic Chinese text attributed to Lao-Tzu and foundational to Taoism, but when the Spirit kept bringing it into my path over and over, my antenna perked up.
It was when our family popped into our local book store and I saw it sitting on the shelf right next to my Ash and Starlight book (Lehn and Lao-Tzu are close in the alphabet!) that I finally said, “Okay! I get the message!” and got a copy.
I have now read the Tao Te Ching multiple times, and keep it within easy reach all the time.
There is one passage in particular that I have come back to again, and again….
It’s that middle part that I returned to again, just last week…
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
***
This passage feels pretty quintessential to what the Tao Te Ching is all about. It’s deep wisdom about trusting life, non-striving, living in flow, releasing the illusion that we unilaterally control and manufacture our lives.
This message might feel a little paradoxical after my post last week all about taking action and being the hands and feet of Jesus in the crisis of our country with the ICE raids. And yet two things are true…
Jesus himself talks about this truth. We have our part to play, our role for faithfulness, and yet, there is much to release into the Spirit’s hands.
“This is what God’s kingdom is like,” Jesus says in Mark 4:26-28. “It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. The earth produces crops all by itself…”
Yes, Jesus often used agrarian examples for his parables and teaching because this was the livelihood of many of his listeners. And yet, imagery of the earth and slow growth illumines the bedrock reality of life.
We must trust what is beyond us. We must trust the unfolding of our lives.
To be clear, this is not a “everything happens for a reason” mentality (we thank
for helping clear us of that!). But it is an opening of the hands, a riding on the current, an exhale…I often need a daily practice of leaning into this truth; this promise. And so I invite you to do the same today.
Trust that, if only for today, you can flow, rather than force.
You can trust God is going to bring you what you need.
You can believe life will happen for you, not to you, as you place everything you encounter in the loving hands of God.
A Prayer
Normally I share a prayer from my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life, but this prayer I wrote a few years ago feels right on track for today.
A prayer for Flow
Good and Gentle God,
So often I feel the urge to force...
the fears inside disguising panic as reason,
saying striving is the only way
to fill and feed my longings.
I press up and against the current of my life,
flailing and grasping for what I can control,
asking what I should do...
Why must I wait for the point of exhaustion
to realize the goodness that’s been carrying me
along the whole time?
That shrinking back and pushing forward are both fueled by anxiety,
and I can settle my soul, here, now,
letting it rest on the current carrying me
exactly where I need to go.
It is as I lay back and look up
that I see the open sky,
the endless light,
breathing in the invitation
to delight in my life rather than ask what I must do with it.
I will open my heart, my arms, my eyes,
riding on your Spirit of ease and supple strength,
flowing toward an expansive sea with
no borders, just limitless love
which is where I’ve been headed all along...
I will trust you,
I will trust my life,
believing all I need will come,
just when and as I need it,
nourishing me in the adventure of joy
You live through me.
Amen.
Something that nourished me recently…
*This quote from my Insight Timer meditation app…
*Speaking of flow, the sight of the sky and water the other day down at Lake Michigan….
*A few months ago, I had my first experience making a “Soul Collage” card. This meaningful practice is about self-discovery and reflection, and involves cutting out magazine images that speak to you, arranging them, and seeing what message arises. I have my first soul collage card pictured below. To learn more about how to create a soul collage card deck, check it out here.
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
*ORIGINALS AND NEW PRINTS IN MY ETSY SHOP ~ FINALLY! I put the remaining unsold framed originals from my art show, alongside some new prints, in my Etsy shop! I’m still working on the clothes, but it’s coming…A portion of every sale here goes to World Central Kitchen which provides food relief, especially to Gaza right now. You can view the shop here.
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Bookshop link.
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ Paid supporters of Monday Manna can view previous Monday Manna reflections here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website.
*WHAT DOES MANNA MEAN? ~ Check out an earlier post to learn how this little bit of “daily bread” got its name…
Trust the Spirit. Trust your life. Live into the adventure of joy. When nothing is done, nothing is left un-done.
Love and Light,
Arianne
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