Have you inventoried the things in your life you are “attached”
to? We all have them and until we identify them and understand their roots they
often act as invisible anchors, slowing our spiritual progress. Does this mean
we have to strip away and discard all we own (physically and mentally) to grow
spiritually? No, but we must discard our attachments,
mental and physical. Possessions are not a spiritual hindrance unless we define ourselves by them. We
are not the house we live in or derive any real status (positive or negative)
from its physical location. We are not the car we drive, wristwatch we wear or
any other material possession for these things are all passing, mere ornaments
of living, gifts to enjoy but of little spiritual value, destructive if they
lull us into a false sense of perceived spiritual entitlement because we “own” them.
As hindering material attachments, possessions, may be, they pale in significance when weighed against our mental attachments, the possessive thoughts we routinely embrace, particularly those kept in our secret “closet of heart and mind” which plant the deepest and heaviest anchors. To hold that any group or people are either favored by God or despised, plants an anchor. To place anyone or anything on a pedestal, a sacred cow, another anchor. To fail to recognize the inherent dignity of anyone, for ANY reason, another anchor, wishing violence on anyone, there are many more. We are spiritual beings, the power that is within us, moves us is beyond measure; it is no less than the Creative Life Force that animates the mayfly and powers the stars. As great as this power is, we can set enough anchors to slow our growth to the point of it being imperceptible. We must begin cutting away the anchors slowing our progress, for if we don’t, our fate will be the same as the Rich Young Man from the Bible, who failed to demonstrate and …went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:22)
As hindering material attachments, possessions, may be, they pale in significance when weighed against our mental attachments, the possessive thoughts we routinely embrace, particularly those kept in our secret “closet of heart and mind” which plant the deepest and heaviest anchors. To hold that any group or people are either favored by God or despised, plants an anchor. To place anyone or anything on a pedestal, a sacred cow, another anchor. To fail to recognize the inherent dignity of anyone, for ANY reason, another anchor, wishing violence on anyone, there are many more. We are spiritual beings, the power that is within us, moves us is beyond measure; it is no less than the Creative Life Force that animates the mayfly and powers the stars. As great as this power is, we can set enough anchors to slow our growth to the point of it being imperceptible. We must begin cutting away the anchors slowing our progress, for if we don’t, our fate will be the same as the Rich Young Man from the Bible, who failed to demonstrate and …went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:22)
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