Forgetting Ourselves
Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do. ~ Neale Donald Walsch
The Gospel lectionary scripture for today tells of the healing of the woman with the bent back (Luke 13:10-17). What makes the related story even more engaging is that a religious leader of the time expresses annoyance to the gathering crowd that the healing occurred on the Sabbath. Now, such a sentiment may sound absurd to us today (and it certainly sounded absurd to Jesus then), but within the world of the religious leader, it made sense. The religious laws, permissions, and prohibitions based upon the Sabbath had grown quite lengthy and complicated. Yet, the original spirit of the Sabbath remained simple and the same: it was a day of rest, a day to keep Holy, and, as Isaiah put it, a day to refrain from serving one's own interests and pursuing one's own affairs.
We don't know whether the religious leader was behaving without some measure of guile in this situation, but I'll certainly offer the benefit of a doubt. I know many people who have become so swept up in what they believe is their job, and what they understand to be the rules, that they completely forget themselves-- loosing perspective of their original objective in the process. They become servant to the guidelines, captive to the customs of human creation, bound and bent over by the rules. Just like the religious leader, who may have believed he was simply doing his job.
How often do we "forget ourselves"?
Forget who we are?
Forget what we are about?
Forget what we claim to stand for?
How often do we forget God's love
and God's desire for us to rise to our true self?
Take some time today to remember yourself.
Take some time today to remember who you are.