Monday, March 30, 2015

Detachment

We hear the word detachment all the time in the spiritual life.  To be detached is to not be owned by anything but God.  The moment I think that I am truly detached something comes up to show I may not be attached to the things I was but am now attached to something different.  I work to be detached from material things only to find I am now attached to praise for the things I do, or getting to the church first in the morning.  Oh how attached I am to the little number that says how many page views I have had.

For a long time this really bothered me, the idea that I traded one attachment for another.  I think I just gave up.  Then what happened is slowly, over time all the old attachments came back.  I think the attachment to material goods is the most distancing of all the attachments.  I have to spend money and there for time on acquiring what is new and I waste energy envying other people.  I get cut off.  I have all the old attachments as well.  I have had to go back and work at detachment.  Really I am working at reattaching my self to the Beloved and to him alone.  The more I sit with my Savior the less I need other things, and the happier I am.

This time I am really trying to not look at other people and what they are doing.  Sometimes I think we substitute doing for detachment.  I must be detached look at all I am doing!  If everyone would just do all I am doing everything would be great.  Blah, blah, blah....  Then the resentment starts.  If you ever find yourself resenting other people for not doing whatever it is you are doing, Stop!  Look at what and why you are doing what you are doing.  Most likely you are attached to something, good feelings, praise, whatever and are not really doing it for the Glory of God.

It amazing, when we do things for the wrong reasons anger or jealousy are the result.  If we do it for God and not ourselves peace is the result.  We aren't doing something wrong when we do it for the wrong reason we just need to learn to detach.  Prayer is the only remedy for the lack of detachment.  Only in prayer will we find peace.

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