Flexible

How flexible are you? No, I do not mean physically, like can you touchyour toes without bending your knees. I mean emotionally and spiritually! To be flexible is to be capable of being bent or flexed; pliable and being bent repeatedly without injury or damage. At times we all get so stiff and rigid in our thinking. We think that the world, our lives, what happens has to happen in a certain way, according to certain rules. We lock ourselves into position like a tall oak tree that does not bend when the wind comes along. We think that this is a good place to be. It is a place of strength we tell ourselves. "Look I am not bending, I am not breaking, I am holding to my rules and this is the way it has to be."
So when the storms of life come - what we did not expect to happen, circumstances that did not comform to our rules, frustrations, dissapointments with others, etc. - we are toppled over like this big oak is because of its inflexibility. Since these things do not fit into our thoughts about God, the world, our life; and we are caught up in pleasing ourselves and our ego - these storms crush us. We fall over in anger, depression, disgusted, and worry. We wonder why and become angry and bitter about were life and God has taken us. We never thought this would happen to us. This did not follow our rules.

Jesus said, "Really? Didn't you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn't you ever read in God's Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it's not held against them?
"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'—you wouldn't be nitpicking like this.

Matthew 12:3-8

Our heart needs to be more flexible. We need to be more like a reed (any of various tall perennial grasses) that is able to move with the winds of the storm, it bends but does not break. A reed can mold itself to the winds, accept the circumstances thrown its way. When it does this it is flexible and in this flexibility it does not break. Is your heart flexible? Does it allow God to move and work as the creator of the universe wants? Or does it attempt to resist the power of the Creator that put everything into being and still controls it? One leads to a flexible heart that is not broken in spirit and can be flexible with the winds of the storms of life. One leads to resistance and stiffness, which will be broken by the winds when they come because it cannot be flexible.

So today accept life just as it is, just as it comes. Trust that the Creator has it all under control, even when it does not seem that way to you because it does not fit your rules. Be flexible. Practice not resisting anything that comes into your life, but accepting it as from God and perfectly placed. You may be blown around, but with a flexible heart you will not be broken. Allow God to show up wherever God will.

Namaste'