You may remember the Lion’s journey to Oz in order to find courage, in The Wizard of Oz. What he found, of course, was that he already had everything he needed within him.
Sometimes we are tempted to look outside ourselves for courage, love, and approval. But when we allow the still small voice to speak to us, we are reminded that because of our oneness with Spirit, we already have everything we need.
In thinking about the process of moving from grief to grace, it seems that often there is courage required—to keep walking, to process whatever is happening, to ask for help when we need it, to be able to talk with someone else about whatever it is. In the book Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, Stephanie Dowrick says that “courage comes out of and expresses love. It does not put an end to fear, but courage offers something that can balance fear, draw the sting from it, put it in its place, open us to life, and set us free.”
Remember in The Wizard of Oz when the wicked witch (I can never remember if she was North, South, East or West) wrote the words “Surrender Dorothy” in the sky? Sometimes we need to surrender—but instead of giving up, we need to give in. As we remember the presence of Spirit with, we can give in and know that, while we don’t necessarily know how the situation will play out, we do know that we are divinely guided and that all is well. (Last Sunday we listened to Jennifer Hart’s amazing song “I Don’t Need to Know” (because God knows). Such a great song.)
On our journey, peace is always available to us. No matter the appearance of chaos around us, it really is the truth of our being.
