Don't Worry

 

What is there to worry about in the present moment? Five times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to worry. Don’t worry about your life, about what you eat or drink, about the clothes you wear, or about the future. Take no thought for tomorrow!”

 

Can you worry in the miracle of Presence? Worry is the past and future. The mind of worry is the mind of time. And time is made of your thoughts. When thoughts of the past and future dissolve, there is no time, no worry.

 

On this Sabbath morning, for a few minutes, or at least for a breath, can you relinquish the past and future, let go of stories, and simply feel this inhalation, this exhalation? Not in your mind, for that is only the concept of “breathing,” but in your chest, as pure sensation.

Put your hand on your solar plexus, with tender love, in the valley just below your beating heart, just above your belly. This is the valley of prayer. Feel the rise and swell, then the fall and kenosis, “self-emptying.” Scripture uses this Greek word to describe how Jesus became Christ. He did not hold himself worthy of any status, or any special authority, but humbled himself, and emptied himself, and became human. Thus he became divine.

So give up the tension you unconsciously hold in the core of your body, the tension of trying to be somebody. Trying to be “good,” or “better,” or “best.” Perhaps the tension you hold in your muscles and bones is the very tension you hold in your mind when you cling to your status, your definition, your I-dentity...

Give up a little more of this clinging. Give up another subtle layer of this grasping you may not have known you held in your chest and belly...

 

Feel the silence. True silence is not imposed, but discovered. True silence has always been here, underneath these layers of grasping... 

So what if thoughts come and go in the mind. The mind is not you. You are the space of the heart, alive with the gentle swell and fall of respiration.

 

Don't "take" this breath, receive it. What is there to worry about, as you receive this gift of breath in the present moment?

This breath is the mother, the Spirit. She who stirred the waters of the deep “in the beginning.” She who whirls the galaxies and builds their nests. She who pours the Milky Way down your spine.  

This breath is the Goddess who delighted with God at the creation of the world. This breath is your beloved Comforter. She is a tower of spices stored in your vertebrae, an axis of sweetness rising to burst through your crown as the fountain of a trillion stars. 

How can you honor her? By allowing the whole creation to become what it actually is: the radiant aura of your body.

Cherish this breath. Let your body be her temple on earth. What is there to worry about when She makes her home in every cell of your flesh.

 

Friend, meditation is a very simple practice. Polish the pearl in your chest with breathing. The silence of your heart is God. The glow is Christ. The river of unborn stars that flows through your spine is the Holy Spirit. 

Photo: Kristy Thompson