Let’s Try so Soft to be Good

• Next Sunday is Discussion Group after Church
• Midwinter Afternoon Tea on February 17th at 2pm
• Death Cafe (yes, that’s correct; more information to follow) on February 3rd at 3pm

One of the definitions of “stress” is “resistance to what is”.  That’s always stuck with me, because resistance is hard.  It makes us hard.  Our muscles get tense and hard.  Our minds get tense and hard.  Our hearts get tense and hard.  A little bit of stress is a good thing, it makes us stronger in body, mind, and heart.  When we cling to stress…it makes us tense and hard.  

We have so much hardness in this world.  PAUSE.  

I read a quote just yesterday as I was thinking about this hardness and softness this week.  We try so hard to be good.  Bu we should try to be softer.  Andrea Gibson.  We should try so soft to be good.  

Worry is stress.  It’s resistance, or maybe fear of what is or what might be.  I like to think of it as: misuse of imagination.  Imagination is part of what brings us to greater awe and wonder in this world.  Misused…I think it takes us away from wonder and awe.  It makes our own worlds hard and small.  

I’ll admit it.  I have a pretty good imagination.  I worry a lot too.  I think we all do.  Am I doing right?  Am I doing wrong?  Am I doing enough?  Am I doing too much?  Am I doing too little? What’s going to happen?  What might happen? …

All the possibilities and we often lean toward hard and scared, when we don’t have to.  Isn’t there enough hard without us adding to it?  PAUSE.  

I think today, it’s time to stop.  Just for today…we soften.  Let’s try so soft the be good.  

Let’s trust.  Trust everything.  Everything.  Including ourselves.  Trust that Grace actually has our back…use our imagination to imagine what’s wonderful and awesome.  To see, all around us, what’s wonderful and awesome.  Let us be re-enchanted by life and the potential of life…not worry, but dream.  

Let’s soften…

Everything can get so hard so very quickly.  We’re hard on ourselves.  We’re hard on other people.  We’re hard on our kids.  We’re hard on the teachers.  We’re hard on the doctors.  We’re hard on the bank teller.  We’re hard at the barista.  We’re hard on the complete stranger in the other car.  

We’re hard in the way we’re so very sure this is the right way to go and afraid of the other way.  Point A goes to point B in a nice, simple straight line.  

So simple.  Just go straight.  Just go straight. 

Straight in a nice, easy hard line.  Point A goes to point B. You can’t possibly get lost.  There’s no meandering or sauntering or wandering.  It’s a straight line.  Just follow it.  It’s simple.  Don’t get distracted by any of the possibilities in the crossroads!!  

We push ourselves to get there faster by working hard, by working out hard, by studying hard, by partying hard, by doing everything so hard.  Even trying so hard to be good.  We’re tough and rugged.  We’re strong and powerful (even when we’re not).  We can do anything.  We even…play hard.  

And still we worry.  Despite the nice hard line…the nice and easy to follow line.  Stay on this side and we’ll be okay.  Don’t cross the line, work hard, do right, and…

Yet, we worry.  What if I missed a corner or a turn?  What if the other road was a better path for me?  So and so says it might be?  But the other so and so says to stay on this straight and narrow…

Worry is the little sister of Fear.  Fear is most definitely hard.  It’s hard.  It’s hard on us.  And it’s got these solid, rough and jagged edges.  We’re afraid of doing wrong.  We’re afraid we’re wrong.  We worry.  Yet again. 

We try so hard to be good.  But we should try to be softer.  Andrea Gibson

Maybe we’d be gooder, if we tried it softer. Softness isn’t weak. It’s stronger than strong. It’s bravery surrounded by heart. Heart strength.  Love and Kindness. Compassion and Forgiveness. Courage.  It’s Courage.  

Softer.  It’s harder to worry when we, just for today, soften and trust.  Trust everything.  Including ourselves.  Just for today, soften the hard edges of fear and worry.  Trust that Grace actually does have our backs.  Notice the wonderful and the awesome all around us and within us!

Just for today, soften the hard line of point A gets to point B and let ourselves wander onto the meandering path.  The dirt one. The messy one.  The one cushioned with soft pine needles and edged with soft dirt ready to be planted with fresh new seeds.  Seeds don’t grow in a straight line.  I don’t think they worry either.  I don’t think they fear.  They just soften into growing into something beautiful.  I could be wrong.  Today, it’s okay to soften the rough edges of right and wrong.  Maybe the seeds do worry.  Maybe the seeds are afraid.  Maybe it’s hard to be a seed or a seedling.  What do I know?  Let’s not worry that I might be wrong. Let’s not worry that I might be right.  

Just for today soften the need to be right or first.  Let’s let someone else out first in traffic or let someone get their coffee first in line.  We could even buy a coffee for the next person or give a five dollar bill to the first person who asks us for a handout, especially if we question their motives.  

Just for today, let’s meet mean with softness. In others and in ourselves.  

Let’s meet unkind with an even softer kindness.  

Let’s meet wrong and right with an even softer tenderness.  

Let’s not worry, but instead soften into wonder.  

Let’s not fear, but instead soften into awe.  

Let’s soften the hardest of memories today. Let’s soften the hardest of stuck repetitive thoughts today.  Let’s soften them with a day that we trust everything.  A day where we trust that there’s nothing to fix, not even ourselves, and certainly not anyone else.  

Let’s play…softly.  Let’s laugh softly.  Maybe it’s loud, but soft.  Not a laughter that’s just a smidge mean or a touch sarcastic, but just truly soft!    

Just for today, soften the hard line of which side you’re on and which side you’re definitely not on.  Just for today, don’t fear that if we soften the walls that define us we will be mistaken for believing or thinking something other than what and who we think we are. Maybe let’s soften the edges around who we think we are…

…and soften who we think someone else is behind their own hard walls of worries and fears.    

Just for today, let’s trust everyone.  Yes, even that person!  Let’s give thanks for what others are doing, instead of judging what’s not getting done or not getting done fast enough or in the (our) right way.  Let’s just give soft thanks for all the small things going in the right direction, even if, especially if, it’s on a wandering, meandering, slow path.  

Let’s give thanks.  Let’s be tender. Let’s practice care-ful-ness.  

Let’s soften into what connects us, what makes us alike, instead of looking for the walls that separate us and keep us apart.  Let’s soften into hugs and holding one another.  

Let’s, just today, be kind, be good, be soft, be peaceful.  Just for today, let’s soften the rough edges of fear, the rough edges of worry.  

Let’s meet the roughness, the meanness, the worries, the fears, the sharp lines, the right, the different…the everything with softness…

Just for today, let’s soften into a life of Grace…just for today, let’s really and truly Trust in our own Faith that Grace (God, the Universe,…) has our back…