There is room for you here.
Some of the things we believe about God and the world and ourselves keep us from God and the world and ourselves.
We get in our own way by adhering to toxic beliefs that divide and belittle and diminish, distracting us from the real work of the spiritual path, which is to go deeper, not get smaller.
There are a few iterations of a line in John's memoir, and some of them read as:
"More of God, less of me.
God must increase, and I must decrease.
God must become more important, I must become less important.
God must be bigger, and I must be smaller."*
Sermons have been preached, videos have been made, books have been written, songs have been sung, and prayers have been prayed, all along the lines of becoming so small so that God can become so large, as if there is only a certain amount of space for us to occupy together, and God needs more room than you do.
You may have been taught, directly or subliminally, that to increase God in your life, you need to decrease your sense of self, your dreams and hopes and plans, your ambition and longings and desires; give them up, sacrifice them on the altar.
In the extreme, it may have been communicated to you in a thousand different ways that for you to be holy, you must rid yourself of yourself.
Many of us have spent years shrinking ourselves so that God can fit in the room, folding ourselves up so small and tight so that we might glorify God as God should be glorified; thinking of ourselves less and less to the point where we don't even know who we are any more so that God can take up as much space as possible in our minds and hearts.
But friend, it doesn't even make sense... that an expansive, creative, luminous, Divine energy that is loving and compassionate and justice driven and courageous and gracious by nature would need you to clear out so that it can take the stage.
Let's start here:
There is no stage. There is no confined space. The universe is not running out of room. There is an abundance to it all. YOU are an abundance of it all. And God created you to share this abundance with.
Imagine a parent having a child and wanting it to stay quiet, hidden, blank to the point of having no dreams or visions or ambitions or ideas, living solely to create more room for the parent to shine. Actually, there are words for grown humans who treat their children this way: abuse, neglect, narcissistic personality disorder.
God is not narcissistic, and God is not in the business of neglect.
So come out from hiding. There is room for you here.
There is room here, not just for you to make God big, but for you to take up your bigness in the energy that God is all around you, in you, and through you. There is no competition between you and God for glory and space.
Settle. Breathe. The universe is a roomy place.
There's a whole story that gives John The Baptists' words, "God must increase, I must decrease," context, and a life beyond the dualistic idea of giving up on yourself so that God can be God. Sacrifice that old and stale idea on the altar, even now as you read this.
Because in The Divine world - which is the world we live in - the human and the holy share infinite space; there is no end to what can be shared here; there's room for it all.
Mindful Prompt: Settle. Breathe. The world is a roomy place. There is no competition between you and God for glory. There is only life and wonder to be shared and discovered together.
Continued in the series "Get Out Of Your Own Way", this week with a subscription in the App.
* John 3:30
Written by Liz Milani.
Instagram: @thepracticeco
