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“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.” – Oprah Winfrey
Life is surprising. Beyond surprising – incredible. Startling at times. It is to me, anyway.
Not just when things don’t work out as well as I’d hoped, but also when things work out better than I’d hoped. Sometimes “bad” is actually good, and “good” is not always what it seems at first. Especially when I see, with hindsight, the intricate way in which some events unfold that is so perfect and so surprising that I know I couldn’t have dreamed it up or planned it out, even if I tried.
It’s often stranger than fiction, and more wondrous too.
It’s as if life has a plan for me that is beyond my comprehension. Or at least, beyond my ability to understand in advance.
I’m being taken by the hand, sometimes willingly and sometimes kicking and screaming. It’s only with hindsight that I eventually see the perfection of it all. Even the tough stuff.
If you asked me, seriously, wouldn’t I rather know where it’s all leading? Well, I guess I wouldn’t. It would be too boring. But at the same time, I feel like there is a part of me that DOES know what’s going on, it just doesn’t know it consciously.
It gives me moment by moment clues though. Like, when I tune in I can get a sense: this feels right, that doesn’t. My curiosity is leading me over here, so I think I’ll follow the breadcrumbs. Whereas that other way, it feels flat to me, uninteresting… and even though I could go that way, and people might be advising me to do that, and it might even seem safer… I’m gonna follow my curiosity and do what makes my heart sing.
I’m going to surrender to following the little clues on this incredible journey, and let go of needing to know the exact destination.
I mean, how can you go with the flow when you’re always telling the flow where to go?
Stop. Just stop. Because surrender is sweet.
Except sometimes it’s also hard.
It requires a faith that there’s something going on that’s bigger than me, and it knows what it’s doing, and I can trust it.
When I deeply tap into that trust, it feels like there is an invisible hand guiding me. Synchronicities abound. I feel connected to (as my friend Jason Snaddon puts it) “ease, flow and grace.” Miracles happen. And it often unfolds in a way that’s stranger than fiction. Which I love, because somehow my spirit has always delighted in everything that’s absurd and fantastical.
When I deeply tap into surrender, the story that unfolds before me becomes like the best one ever told. It has layers and subtleties and incredible themes. It’s never boring, never stale. It’s always fresh. And the hand guides me through it all.
Some people call that guiding hand God. Or, if you prefer, you can just think of it as the timeless part of your consciousness that can see the whole timeline and knows the ideal outcome for you, for your spiritual growth and to maximize the value of this corporeal experience you’ve chosen to have at this time, in this body. Also known as: LIFE.
For me, my highest values are growth, freedom and learning from rich interpersonal relationships. I know how I want to feel with respect to those things… and that knowing is important. That is my way of telling “the hand” what I’m asking to experience. Once that’s clear in my heart, then the invisible hand in my life seems to take over and lead me to places that stretch and challenge me in new ways. It asks me: “What is growth? What is freedom, really? What are the intricacies of human relationships? What is love?”
Sometimes the stretching and learning almost feels like it’s too much. And yet somehow it never is. It rides the edge.
It’s easier (and more peaceful) for me if I don’t resist what’s happening, but just accept what’s showing up and asking to be acknowledged… and especially if I’m willing to entertain the idea that maybe, just maybe, I might be up to whatever I’m being called upon to do. Even if I’ve never done it before.
The process can be painful at times, but less so when I’m kind to myself: when I’m willing to explore but also affirm that all I can ever do is my best. And my best is good enough.
This way of being is a path of surrender. (By the way, I highly recommend the book “The Surrender Experiment” by Mickey Singer… he really brings this idea to life through the story of his extraordinary life. A friend recommended it me and said “it made me think of you.”)
When you deeply surrender, you engage with the flow of life. And that flow is incredibly powerful. It leads to places more wondrous and incredible than you could ever imagine.
Surrender, and let the flow of life take you.
As always, let me know in the comments if this post has helped you in any way.
To YOUR Abundance,
Julie Ann Cairns
