I was raised in the church and while I struggled with many of the beliefs taught, I was a whiz at memorizing scripture which is of course, something kids in Sunday school do a lot. However, even as a child, I never believed scripture was literal. I've always looked at the Bible as an allegory for an embodied life as opposed to actual, literal instructions for how to live.
Still, every once in a while some piece of scripture I memorized back in the day pops up, and I suddenly have a new understanding of what it is telling me. That happened this morning during my meditation.
I've been working on cleansing and clearing these past few weeks; I'm ridding myself of things that no longer serve me so I can make space for new energy to enter my life. I've done this not only with physical stuff (I've removed piles of garbage and things to donate from my drawers and closets over the past few weeks), but also mentally and emotionally. I've felt a driving need to create spaciousness in every aspect of my life; to make room for new energy to arrive by clearing out old energy that's cluttering up the joint.
I've always viewed my closets and drawers as an allegory for my life. On the surface, my house is clean and tidy. Sure, there's a little clutter from time to time, but if you were to come to my house, it would look fairly neat and clean. Just don't open a closet or a drawer, because under the surface of clean, oy. Chaos. And that physical condition has frequently mirrored my internal or emotional life, as well. On the surface, I appear as if I've got my crap together. But if you open a drawer or a closet - in other words, if you dig more deeply under my surface - chaos. And that chaos has traditionally occupied a whole lot of my mind and emotional space.
And so, as I've cleared away physical clutter in pursuit of physical spaciousness, I've also been working to clear away mental and emotional clutter into pursuit of emotional and mental spaciousness. I wish to create those mental and emotional spaces so I can allow for new energy that better serves me to enter my life.
Which brings me back to scripture. In my meditations, I've been using a technique my friend psychic AurorA teaches called heart space. Essentially, heart space is entering a place of pure love and acting from that practice. In my meditations, I've been focused a lot on bringing others into my heart space - especially people with whom I have relationships that need healing (part of my cleansing and clearing has been focused a lot on forgiveness). And as I did this today, a piece of scripture I memorized as a kid popped into my head.
Matthew 7:5: You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I always saw this as an admonishment about judging others - don't judge lest ye be judged, that type of thing. But from heart space, I discovered for me it is something else altogether. It isn't about judging. It is about loving. What it meant to me this morning in my meditation was this...the plank in my eye is my inability to fully view myself with love. How can I view others with deep love love if I can't provide that for myself? With that acknowledgment, that recognition of what is, the plank starts to dissolve, and I can see more clearly than I have before. One more very important piece of clutter is disappearing right before my eyes.
What is the plank in your eye? What is it you have that you can't see around? What's cluttering up the joint and preventing new energy from entering your life? As we move through the holidays and into the new year, I encourage you to allow time and space to discover your planks, to clear your clutter, and to move forward with joy into the truly empowered life you can lead if you allow yourself to do so.
Still, every once in a while some piece of scripture I memorized back in the day pops up, and I suddenly have a new understanding of what it is telling me. That happened this morning during my meditation.
I've been working on cleansing and clearing these past few weeks; I'm ridding myself of things that no longer serve me so I can make space for new energy to enter my life. I've done this not only with physical stuff (I've removed piles of garbage and things to donate from my drawers and closets over the past few weeks), but also mentally and emotionally. I've felt a driving need to create spaciousness in every aspect of my life; to make room for new energy to arrive by clearing out old energy that's cluttering up the joint.
I've always viewed my closets and drawers as an allegory for my life. On the surface, my house is clean and tidy. Sure, there's a little clutter from time to time, but if you were to come to my house, it would look fairly neat and clean. Just don't open a closet or a drawer, because under the surface of clean, oy. Chaos. And that physical condition has frequently mirrored my internal or emotional life, as well. On the surface, I appear as if I've got my crap together. But if you open a drawer or a closet - in other words, if you dig more deeply under my surface - chaos. And that chaos has traditionally occupied a whole lot of my mind and emotional space.
And so, as I've cleared away physical clutter in pursuit of physical spaciousness, I've also been working to clear away mental and emotional clutter into pursuit of emotional and mental spaciousness. I wish to create those mental and emotional spaces so I can allow for new energy that better serves me to enter my life.
Which brings me back to scripture. In my meditations, I've been using a technique my friend psychic AurorA teaches called heart space. Essentially, heart space is entering a place of pure love and acting from that practice. In my meditations, I've been focused a lot on bringing others into my heart space - especially people with whom I have relationships that need healing (part of my cleansing and clearing has been focused a lot on forgiveness). And as I did this today, a piece of scripture I memorized as a kid popped into my head.
Matthew 7:5: You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I always saw this as an admonishment about judging others - don't judge lest ye be judged, that type of thing. But from heart space, I discovered for me it is something else altogether. It isn't about judging. It is about loving. What it meant to me this morning in my meditation was this...the plank in my eye is my inability to fully view myself with love. How can I view others with deep love love if I can't provide that for myself? With that acknowledgment, that recognition of what is, the plank starts to dissolve, and I can see more clearly than I have before. One more very important piece of clutter is disappearing right before my eyes.
What is the plank in your eye? What is it you have that you can't see around? What's cluttering up the joint and preventing new energy from entering your life? As we move through the holidays and into the new year, I encourage you to allow time and space to discover your planks, to clear your clutter, and to move forward with joy into the truly empowered life you can lead if you allow yourself to do so.
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