In God's world, everything fits

How does everything fit in your world? Do you live within your center, or around the edges? If you think about it, really think about it, I believe it isn't until we're living in the later part of our lives, or have experienced many struggles, we cease to live around the edges.

By living on the circumference or around the edges of life, I mean t we're attempting to act and be the way the world teaches us. Even though we may be Christian, or believe in another God, we can still live on the outside, having yet to experience the depth of living in our center. "We are a circumference people with little access to our center. We live on the boundaries of our own lives confusing edges with what's genuine, too quickly claiming the superficial as substance" (William Yeats). "Living among edges and boundaries is not all bad," says Fr. Richard Rohr in his book, "Everything belongs." But often, the outer things are passing, accidental and sometimes illusory. For example, taking care of our skin is not bad; it's just not our soul or spirit." We spend a lot of time on our skin, how we look and how we appear, in general. Does this over-emphasis on our physical appearance and outer trappings, such as being popular in the eyes of the world, or our eyes, fulfill our inner being? Even though we attain our goals, how long does that feeling of success and inner tranquility last?

It seems that we are often sad when we look through the windows of our present circumstances -- a time that ought to be joyful and fulfilling. We have all the ruffles around the edges of our lives, we've tried to observe what's right and shun the wrong, and it seems like everything fits in our world, within the judgment of the world. "Why," we ask? For what do we strive, presently? It is easy now to find avenues to escape from the harsh realities in our lives. It's easy to find a way out of our suffering and hardship. We can go shopping, buy a new car, attend a movie, work on a hobby or focus on our job.

Years ago, people had much less access to things that would take their minds of that which bothered them. They were forced to find their own ways to lift their spirits. They had to reach for a higher power, their God, to find spiritual tranquility. We can look back, read stories and watch documentaries of the early settlers and see their world. Many merely sat by a bubbling or peacefully flowing stream, walked through the woods or across pastures blooming with upcoming crops when they were distraught. This was their way of contending with what they were experiencing. They were unable to place a Band-Aid on those emotional wounds by running away. The distractions that are so plentiful now-a-days did not exist then. They had, only, their inner strength on which to draw. People were forced to call upon God, to listen for his word, believing he spoke to them.

We, so often, live on the edges and the circumference of life that we lose sight of who we are--what thoughts and actions are really ours. When I was a youth, I could easily take on the mannerisms and speech of others, especially those I admired. Now, I realize I ceased to recognize I was OK, just as I was. I was made in the image of God.

We all need to search for our inner core--to see what's underneath the person we try so hard to be. The person living on the circumference of life is on shaky ground. Only what's inside us will last. All else will be gone eventually, but our spirit will live forever. Fr. Rohr says "everything belongs in God's reign, even the broken and poor parts. How do we find our deepest and most profound selves?" According to Rohr, "the most important way is to live and fully accept our reality." We need to stop chasing the wind for something to make us happy and, "take up our own inglorious, mundane, and ever-present cross. We do not find our own center; it finds us."