Last Sunday, our group was arriving to brunch to celebrate Michael’s birthday. As we were arriving, we lost our seats at a large table due to our party being incomplete/parking. Seeing a couple seated at a six-top, I asked them if they wouldn’t mind relocating to a smaller table being cleaned. They had no problem with the move – and our whole group was now headed to the best table in the house.
The shift manager didn’t seem to appreciate the antics and voiced his frustration. His frustration was in being viewed as incapable of his job. I had logical reasons behind my actions, but realized it wouldn’t accomplish anything to explain them. Thus, the need for an apology. We made amends and the brunch was a memorable one.
The story got me thinking to the idea behind surrender. A man once told me “there is freedom in submission and bondage in rebellion.” I didn’t piece together how denying freedom would lead to gaining it.
When I look at the forces moving in this world, conquering through defeat never yields lasting victory. When a country gets overthrown by an enemy force, it’s only a matter of time before the tables turn, as history shows us.
Where freedom and change seems to reign supreme is in the halls of love. Love doesn’t conquer – it overcomes without needing to deal a blow.
When I look at the life of Jesus, I see a man that served the people around him. I can also gather about him that he wasn’t a saint, as his own disciples questioned whether or not he was the foretold messiah.
See, they were expecting a powerful military commander. The man in front of them clearly possessed the intelligence/charge of that title, yet puzzled them by washing their feet instead of arming them for war.
Love serves without hesitation and offers itself without expectation of return. It’s what enables surrender to become the ultimate victory, instead of the ultimate loss.
Surrender reminds me of the story where a father driving in the car with his daughter catches a bee in his hand, taking the sting instead of his child, while allowing the bee to fly away, intact.
If we think of Infinite Love as taking the universal 39th lash for us, coming within one stroke of death in all of the times we didn’t know if we’d pull through, love begins to unfold in a new and frightening way as we see it as a man (Jesus), consciousness (Christ), and spirit.
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