Growing up in Pacifica, a city that is a narrow band of land bookmarked by mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, allowed me to be immersed in the particular culture of living in a coastal town. The sea was never out of site for more than a short time; we saw it whenever we drove anywhere that took us beyond our neighborhood in the hills. My high school (aptly named Oceana) was just across the highway from the ocean, the beach was a common meeting place, and for a time, I lived a few blocks from the shore where I could easily make a daily walk to the water. Ocean life was always a backdrop to daily life. Along with the beauty of the Pacific Ocean, we were taught to understand and respect its great power. Part of that teaching was the warning against undertows – a long, narrow band of water that can pull a person out to sea with great force. The first teaching is to be safe – never swim alone, learn to recognize the patterns in the current to detect an undertow, look for depressions in the sea or water that is suspiciously calm. The second teaching comes into play if you get caught in an undertow – and that is to relax, remain calm, and in effect, surrender. Panic, adrenaline, extreme movement will cause the situation to deteriorate quickly. Instead, remember to breathe, gently swim parallel to the shore, and if need be, float on your back until you are carried out of danger.
Obviously, this is an extreme example of surrender, but it reminds me of the on-going, often daily surrender that we are called into. As every day comes to us, we are presented with opportunities to let go, release, surrender to the power and love of God. While this concept grates against our culture of self-grandiosity and independence, the spiritual path of Jesus Christ is one of recognizing, with humility, our own human limits and in effect, brokenness. This state of being empowers us to lean into union with God, the One who makes us whole beyond our own ability or imagination. Franciscan author Richard Rohr describes this as “a loving union with God.”
We must fully recognize that mystics like Francis and Clare were speaking from this place of conscious, chosen, and loving union with God, and such union was realized by surrendering to it and not by any achieving of it! Surrender to Another, participation with another, and divine union will be experienced as the same thing. Once we are in this union, I can look out from a much fuller Reality with eyes beyond and larger than my own. This is precisely what it means to “live in Christ” (en Christo), to pray “through Christ,” or to do anything “in the name of God.”
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pp. 70-71
Lent presents us with a unique opportunity to practice this union with God. The season leans towards self-reflection, not as a way of gazing at our belly buttons, but as a way of identifying the parts of us that need surrendering to God. Where have I allowed my ego to supersede God’s desire to be one? Where have I struggled to control people, places and things instead of letting go and seeing as Christ might see? During this season and beyond, surrender to God’s love, God’s power, and God’s desire to be in union with you.