words from unity: Leaning into the Challenge

Rev. Michael Gott

There’s a saying my friend and mentor Rev. Kathy Hearn has told me on numerous occasions that has really helped me in times of change: “The greater the shift, the greater the gift.” Sometimes when life is changing all around me, what I want to do is use my time and energy to minimize the change, to control as much as possible, to manage the unmanageable. It never yields the results I’m looking for.

Now, I’m not talking about the everyday changes and slow evolution of work, health, finances and relationships. For those things, some attention to the details and managing the edges of things really pays off.

What I’m talking about is the sea change. Those end-of-a-chapter and your-lifewill-never-be-the-same kind of experiences. The divorce, the loss of a business or a job, the big diagnosis. For these kinds of life-altering experiences, I have found the best thing I can do is lean into it. When the universe is truly seeking our attention, it can be profoundly rewarding to simply surrender everything.

Rob Bell, the former evangelical mega-pastor turned enlightenment guru says his favorite prayer is, “Here.” Like a child that has been struggling to put the toy back together, and finally in tears and frustration thrusts it all at the waiting parent, saying “here.” I can’t manage this. I don’t know what to do. Please take the fragile pieces of my life and do something with them. Anything.

Those are the moments in my life when I’ve been most available to Spirit. Shaken loose of my false sense of control, I am open to a new experience and to new direction. I can be made truly useful in ways I had never thought of.

If you are in one of those moments, if you’ve tried everything you know, I encourage you to stop trying. Lean in to the currents of the river and you’ll be taken exactly where you need to be.

Join us for Sunday services at Unity of Houston! 9:00am and 11:00am in the Sanctuary Spanish Service at 9:45 in the Pyramid 2929 Unity Drive, Houston, 77057