Leaning Into Life

My dear friend, David Hayes, once told me how he loved seeing me lean into life. We were talking about some struggles I had as I wrestled with some of life’s bigger questions. I was digging deep. Asking, seeking, and knocking. Learning to patiently wait and listen. Knowing answers don’t come easily, or sometimes even at all. But in these conversations, I felt a new level of peace in my faith and spiritual life I had never felt before. I continue to wrestle, and I love that image of leaning into this Great Mystery. Finding inner stillness, peace, and joy in this spiritual walk. 

Each day is filled with opportunities to learn and grow and mature, and I believe this is the point. This slow process takes patience, but more importantly, it helps us grow patience. 

David Steindl-Rast, one of my current wisdom teachers, teaches that our quest for satisfaction, happiness, and joy begins with gratitude. We can be grateful for the opportunity to respond to life. The practice of gratitude requires attention and discipline, but yields serenity, courage, and wisdom. Gratitude helps us lean into life when we struggle so we can recognize and take advantage of the many opportunities and the many blessings that surround us each day.  

This morning, I wrote this thought in my journal:  

In my hero’s journey of spirituality, I am continually struggling as I find myself taking 3 steps forward into growth and 2 steps back into safety. I struggle as I wrestle with resistance, conflicts, and paradoxes. I struggle as I face problematic nuances (in scripture and in life) yet somehow, I am grateful that I can remain faithful as I continually grow and move from my first half of life (where I thought like a child) to the second half of life (where I put away childish things). I am grateful that my beliefs are transforming to simply become trust and as my need for answers is transforming to simply be a need to learn from and grow through life’s experiences with struggle, conflicts, and paradoxes. This is quite a journey, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lean in and participate in it.   

This journal holds many borrowed phrases and thoughts, but I love those words. I love them, because I can see that I AM leaning into life. I AM appreciating my opportunities. I AM grateful for my spiritual teachers. And I AM on a remarkable spiritual journey. We ALL are, and we all need to receive and to give love and support. From and to our fellow travelers. Today. And every day.