Sunday, April 10, 2016

The Slender Threads

One of those books to which I return frequently is Balancing Heaven and Earth by Robert Johnson and Jerry Ruhl.  This is the "story" of Robert Johnson's life and the amazing coincidences that he has experienced.  He calls those coincidences, "the slender threads."  Toward the end of the book, Johnson reflects, "If you can live in the paradox long enough, then a transformation takes place and a new consciousness is born....  This occurs when one has stopped trying to maneuver external reality so that it will work out as the ego desires.  One turns authority over to something greater than oneself; the, ego is sacrificed to the Self, the earthly world serves the heavenly world, and one learns, at last, to trust the slender threads."  Some of my greatest experiences have happened when I relaxed my determined efforts to control what was happening in order to make events happen as I wanted and, instead, trusted that God was at work and my task was to relax into His care.  Trusting "the slender threads" that weave life together is not as easy discipline.  It is, however, what I call faith.

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