Surrendering to Serenity
by Carol S. Helms, RScP
Thirty-two plus years ago a wise woman thought me a lesson or two about practical sobriety, which opened the door of my mind to sanity, which unveiled the path of serenity. I recently sat outside MD Anderson in Houston, masked and waiting as my 96 year old mom had a cancerous sore on her leg assessed for the best course of treatment. I brought a big bag of work to do as the wait was anticipated to be anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. I worked for a couple of hours, but neither my mind nor heart was tuned into work, so I proceeded to do one of my 2-mile walking, meditating prayers. I started with “Today I surrender to the power and presence of God in me, as me, and expressing through me,” and began to feel the Truth that God is always everywhere present, and I began to tap into practical spirituality in the form of conversation with God, Mom and me, securing a beautiful calm, clear cocoon. And I scribbled the following affirming prayer:
Today I seek and see only Good! Today I let a sunlit fern teach me to simply sit and kindly listen to what it had to say. Today I smelled the breath of God as it rustled the scents of fall blooms. Today I praise the angels who diligently and lovingly meet the needs of the healing in the building across the street.
Thank you, God, for the sunlight on a fern. Thank you, God, for the clouds that silently and without water rained blessings on all that noticed and all that didn’t notice. I love spiritual equity. Thank you, God, for the scent of Heaven blooming within me and without. Thank you, God, for the angels that lit on my shoulders and the shoulders of all I saw throughout the day. Thank you for practical spirituality. And so it is!