Delightful

I went on retreat to an Abbey recently and it was delightful. To chant with the monks, to walk the grounds, to be free of TV and even radio or music, these are things that make silence delightful. Most of all, it is the chance to unplug from all of the worries, fears, and needs that I deal with daily. I cannot stay of course and if I could, I know that it would not always be delightful. Monks have hassles too!

Among those hassles for monks is overcoming all of the conversations that go on in our hearts. More than one monk/author has made it clear that an Abbey is not a place you can go to run away from yourself. In fact, it is at the Abbey that you must confront and wrestle with yourself daily. It takes practice, even for one living the monastic life. So, why are we so hard on ourselves when we don’t live up to our own expectations?

And, worse still, why do we react so badly when we don’t live up to the expectations of others? I know, I have a boss too and I give up too much control of myself to meeting those requirements of a job. At the end of the day, it is a job, it is not life and death (okay, if you are a brain or heart surgeon, it might be, but you get my point). Too many workplaces want us as the workers to take responsibility for everything that happens. That is patently unhealthy. Regardless of the business, no one person is ever responsible for things that happen, either good or bad things.

I only have to live up to the expectations of One. That One, that Sacred One has only the expectation that I will try to love the Sacred, myself and my neighbors. There is even an “escape clause” because I am well known to the Sacred. I am expected to try and why I don’t succeed, I am already forgiven. Now, imagine you workplace being like that, they expect you to do your work and when you don’t, they forgive and let you try again.

There is a name for this, by the way. It is the management style called Servant Leadership. It is management by the rule of St. Benedict if you will. The monks know something that I should not have to return to the Abbey to remember, The Creator of the Universe delights in me. It says it over and over again in scripture! You, me, all of creation, we are delightful to God. Join me in giving up all of those old “tapes” that play in our heads that we are not good enough, that we are utter failures, that we will never be good enough. We already are. We delight God. Let’s start feeling delightful.

TMM