Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome as we continue our journey through the Psalms of Refuge and today We look at a very short Psalm.
But one that is full of beauty and depth as we seek refuge in God.
Psalm 131.
As we begin,
As always,
Let's just take a moment to bring ourselves fully into the moment to become still.
Allow your body to settle.
Take a deep breath in.
Feel yourself becoming fully immersed in this moment.
Bringing you all.
Thoughts and focus.
Inward.
Into this time.
And as you begin to find this center of rest,
Become aware of God's presence.
Not waiting at the end of a spiritual journey far away somewhere,
But present here and now with every breath.
Let's take a nice slow deep breath one more time.
And let's spend some time.
In Psalm 131.
One of the shortest psalms in all scripture,
Just a few verses.
And yet those few verses contain a profound vision of peace and refuge,
A peace that doesn't come from having all the things figured out or controlling how things happen.
And certainly not from finally getting everything we want.
This is a psalm that speaks right to the core of things,
Simplicity.
Trust.
Surrender,
Something we might call the spirituality of enough.
So as we listen to the psalm,
Just allow the words to settle gently within you.
Listening not just with your mind but also with the ear of your heart.
Psalm 131.
O Lord,
My heart is not lifted up.
My eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.
Bald.
I have calmed and quieted my soul.
Like a weaned child.
With its mother.
My soul is like the weaned child.
That is with me.
O Israel,
Hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
Now that is just a remarkably simple psalm.
No big stories,
No great victories.
No desperate cries for rescue,
Just a person who's discovered something most of us spend our whole lives searching for.
A quiet heart.
The psalm begins by speaking about letting go of things that are too great and too marvelous.
It's interesting,
Isn't it,
That in our modern world.
.
.
People were talking about this as a rejection of knowledge or learning.
Of shunning things that will create growth.
But I think there's something much deeper here.
Because I think the psalmist is trying to describe a freedom that comes when we don't need to control everything.
A freedom from needing answers to every question or from carrying responsibilities that don't belong to us.
Many of us live as though peace will arrive when everything finally makes sense,
When all the questions are answered.
When we've got no more uncertainty.
When we have enough information or security.
But you and I both know that life really works that way.
There's always another question.
Another doubt pops up,
Another challenge,
Something else or someone else we can't control.
So what the psalmist has discovered here is another path.
That instead of trying to master everything,
He learns to be content.
With who they are and what they know.
And to just rest.
So as you take a slow,
Deep breath,
Just ask yourself,
What am I carrying today that doesn't belong to me?
Whoopin' Am I trying to hold that I can't actually control?
Just notice what arises and for a moment Imagine placing that into God's hands.
And then there in the centre of the psalm is this beautiful image of a weaned child resting with its mother.
What makes the image so powerful?
Is that the child isn't restless.
Or searching or grasping for anything.
The child's just simply.
.
.
Resting.
Content.
Contentious to be there,
Present with its mother,
Content to be held.
Content to be near and close.
And I think it's very different to how many of us move through life.
Often reaching for the next thing,
Sometimes even before we finish the thing we're on.
The next solution or experience or answer.
The next version of ourselves.
Sometimes we do it because we believe that peace lies somewhere out there in front of us.
The psalm offers a very different possibility.
What if peace is found right here?
When we stop.
Grasping after things.
Just imagine yourself resting in the presence of God like that child.
No need to try and earn love.
No need to become worthy or to prove anything,
Just resting.
Being.
And receiving.
There's a very important statement in the midst of this psalm too,
And one that can be misunderstood if we're not careful.
The psalmist writes,
I have calmed and quieted my soul.
The psalmist isn't saying here that they've solved all their problems.
Or answer all their questions or achieve their life goal.
But they've calmed and quieted their soul.
That the deepest peace isn't found outside of us,
It's found in learning to rest within God,
Just like that child.
With its mother.
Many contemplative traditions speak about this.
The invitation of that contemplative life is to trust and surrender and rest in a reality that's much larger than our fears.
So maybe the greatest obstacle to pace.
Is the belief that we're not enough.
And you can define the enough however you want.
Successful,
Productive,
Spiritual,
Wise,
Accomplished.
Not enough.
And it's hard because all around us the message is that we need more.
More things.
More recognition.
More achievement.
More control,
More certainty.
But the psalmist in Psalm 131 asks a different question.
What if enough?
Is already here.
What if God's love is already enough?
What if this moment is enough?
What if you?
Are enough.
Notice what happens within you as you hear those words.
What if you are enough?
Just notice how you react.
And for the next few moments,
We're going to try resting with the phrase enough and allow it to become a prayer.
But as you breathe in.
.
.
You would say enough.
And as you breathe out,
You'd say,
I rest.
Breathing in.
.
.
Enough breathing out.
I rest.
Enough?
I rest.
And as you continue to breathe this prayer,
Just allow yourself to sit and rest in these few moments and allow yourself to simply be.
And as we prepare to finish,
Just hear once more the heart of the psalm,
That the spiritual life isn't always about becoming more,
Sometimes it's about becoming simpler.
Learning to trust,
Learning to surrender.
Learning to rest,
Learning that God's presence is.
Enough.
Let us pray.
Loving God in a world that teaches us to strive,
Teaches to rest.
In a world that tells us we're never enough.
Help us remember that we are already held in your love.
Calm what is restless within us.
Quiet what is anxious within us.
Help us release what we can't control.
Help us to trust what we can't understand.
Teach us the freedom of simplicity.
Teach us the peace of surrender.
And teach us to rest in you.
Amen.
Thanks so much for being with me in this time of prayer and reflection.
May you move through this day with a quieter heart.
May you remember that you don't need to carry everything,
That you don't need to know everything,
That you are hell.
And may grace,
Peace and love go with you and remain with you today and always.
Amen.
This moment,
Friend.
This moment is enough.
Go in peace and until tomorrow.
Bye for now.
