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A Taoist Master was walking through town. There was a big stir down one street. An ox was out of control. The ox was blocking the street. People saw the Master, and they asked him what they should do to fix the problem. The Master looked at the angry ox and saw the blocked street. He turned around and walked down another street.
Inner Solitude and Contemplative Prayer lead us from complexity to simplicity. Simplicity, spiritually, is akin to the Wisdom genre. This Wisdom genre seeks to show, in a matter-of-fact manner, what works and what does not work. Wisdom says, “You cannot force your preference on Life, even in the name of God. That will not work.” Wisdom says, “Only love transforms hate.” Wisdom says, “Getting our way may be the worst thing we can get.” Wisdom says, “Sometimes the more mature person surrenders to the inevitable.”
One of the most humbling things for us to do, at times, is surrender to the situation by seeking another path or diverting our efforts elsewhere. To surrender to the situation is not, necessarily, an act of cowardice. Sometimes, to surrender to a situation is the wisest thing to do; at other times, it is the most courageous thing to do.
Pride is a defiance that leads us to seek to control the angry ox. This leads us to act in harmfulness. But, why fight the angry ox? There must be some higher principle than walking away to have motivated the Master not to walk away and go another way, or he is acting wisely to walk away and another way. Simplicity allowed him to see the simple solution that other persons could not see.
Presently, I am going through a learning lesson in this area. I am leaving my present pastorate and being reappointed to another congregation at the start of August. In many ways, the new appointment is a positive move for me. However, as a man with the heart of a spiritual leader, a shepherd of the people he committed to, I find it humbling to walk away and accept the situation. There were visions of staying here for years, making a home in the town, and growing together with a people. I think most pastors have that dream. Such was not meant to be, however, or will not be.
At a point in this journey with the present congregation, I had to release the visions I had and admit the need for a move to another site. Likewise, my Bishop went through the same resignation.
Why did I do this? One reason is a basic universal principle: No harm. Sometimes, we admit that what in some ways appears a loss or a defeat must be surrendered to for the common good. We must humble ourselves, acting from a higher principle. Rather than fight the ox, which means fight the circumstances, the simple and wise choice is to move on and commit anew and elsewhere.
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Possibly, you have been in a situation pertaining to self, family, job, or otherwise, where the simple decision was to do what to other persons would appear giving up. Maybe, some of you are in a similar situation now. Sometimes, the simple decision is the hardest to make, for we equate turning the other cheek with weakness and other persons getting their way. Well, ultimately, if we trust in the Loving Justice, and we are praying “Not my will but Your will be done,” then, we can receive the Grace graciously to walk through the crucifixion of the ego and come out on the other side with a new beginning, a fresh opportunity, a resurrection to newness of Life.
Thomas Merton wrote, “We are going to have to create a new language of prayer. And this new language of prayer has to come out of something which transcends all our traditions, and comes out of the immediacy of love” (Thomas Merton, Seeds, Trans. Robert Inchausti). The person of Prayer, then, is nurturing a nonviolent means of surrender to Grace, the universal immediacy of Love. This leads us to become more accepting. We no longer feel we must win, have our way, or overcome the one we might see as the enemy.
Even in the Contemplative Life, we might get discouraged at how easily we fall back into old patterns of I-must-win, I-must-overcome, I-must-prove-myself-strong, … still, we are to realize that we are on a journey of a lifetime and more. We need not become discouraged that we fail to see perfection in ourselves. All that really matters is that we are on the Way, and this means we are becoming transformed into the likeness of Christ.
Reflections
Did the above encourage you in discerning what to do in a situation in your life? Explain.
What does “surrender” mean in a Christian view of life?
How does the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus teach us about no harm? The immediacy of Love?
Spiritual Exercise
Make sure you have a sacred space in your home for time alone in prayer and spiritual reading.
Make sure you are in a covenant group. For more information on covenant groups, write me at the address below.
Consider, if you are not already, sponsoring a child through Compassion International. You can find out more about Compassion International by going to www.compassion.net to read about sponsoring, in the name of Jesus, children living in poverty. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
Brian’s book An Ache For Union can be purchased at major book dealers.
To contact Brian, write briankwilcox@comcast.net .
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