"Warriorship"

Warriorship.  How often have you thought of such a thing, let alone read about it?

Being a warrior is, as I have come to understand it, all about living a life devoted to three overarching spiritual practices that fall under the banner of Jesus Christ, the Warrior of all warriors:

1. The acceptance of everything as it is;
2. The cessation of the practice of judging everything as either good or bad; and
3. The dropping of all attachments to outcomes.

Accept everything? you ask.

Yep, everything.  Meaning, accept that what is in the moment is what it is and that no amount of energy can ever change what is "right now" into something different than what it is right now.  This does not mean that you cannot strive in the present to bring about change in the future.  In fact, I greatly encourage it, but I recommend taking an aggressively non-aggressive approach to such things.

Acceptance is an attitude of simply choosing to believe and to accept that "what is” is, in fact, "what is."  It's a conscious choice to look at the way things are and to call them just that:  the way they are are.  One of the amazing things about acceptance is that once you've come to accept the FACT that things are what they are, any needed efforts to achieve future change can be initiated from a place of great equanimity, decisiveness, compassion, and prudence.

And judge nothing?

Yep, nothing.  Our notions of what are good and bad are so limiting and, often, inaccurate.  For what may seem bad now, may, ultimately, work out for your supreme good--or the good of someone you love.

Detach?  Completely?

Yep, completely.  Not having to have something you don’t have (or not having to keep what you already do have) can be very freeing, wouldn’t you agree?   

Accept, judge not, and detach...a path of awakening... 

Inside of you, inside of me, there beats the heart of a warrior.  The heart of one willing to plunge deep into the personal sufferings and pain of those around you…willing to embrace cheerfully the truth as well as the impermanence, sorrows, and joys of the moment (including one's own) for the sake of everyone within the realm of your influence and existence.

As difficult as it might seem, one can begin to practice these warrior disciplines from this moment onward.  And it always begins in this moment.  As a friend of mine has said so often, “Start where you are, Dave, for where you are is a perfect place to start.”  Even now, as I hear my friend’s voice in my memory, I can hear the responsive echo within my own heart as it reverberates enthusiastically with a hearty, “Aye.  And I shall!”  Starting where you are is the ground of the warrior’s life, my friends.  And it is, indeed, “a perfect place to start.”

On this blogspot, it is my aspiration, among many things, to be a conduit for awakening the warrior within you…AND within me.

Who am I?  No one special; and yet I am intrinsically valuable.  A long, long time ago, I gave my heart to Jesus.  He is My Hope and My Reason.  My Reason for living, and My Hope in everything.  I lack for nothing because I have Him.  In Him, I really do live and move and have my very being.  And that is who I am:  A being.   His being.  Nothing more; nothing less.  Neither great, nor small.  Just me, as I am:  an extraordinarily ordinary creation of the Great I AM.  I am a “follower of Jesus,” yes, for He alone is the Lord of Creation, the Savior of the World, and the Redeemer of My Life and Circumstances; I am also a “practicer.”  By that, I mean, I am a practicer of everything I do…how I eat, how I walk, how I listen to people, how I wash the dishes, and, yes, even in how I live in the present moment.  Yo-Yo Ma practices the cello.  My doctor practices medicine.  And me?  Well, I practice everything.  Does that mean that I do everything well?  By no means; I am but a kindergartner in a number of things and a toddler in most everything else.  A practicer is simply one who is present in whatever he or she is doing, does whatever it is it for the sheer joy of the doing, and pays curious attention to the feelings that arise while engaged in the activity.

I am now in my third week of operating this blog, and the responses from all of you have been nothing but overwhelming as well as humbling.  Thank you for allowing me to come into your lives in this way.  It is my earnest prayer that, above all else, the Everlasting Father will use these obscure and ordinary posts to illuminate and enrich your life in a grand and extraordinary way.  As I have prayed so very often:  May anything contained herein that is not of Jesus just fall to the ground and escape all notice.  In fact, may it fertilize the garden of God’s grace growing within you.

So…give these things a read, my friends, and “practice” whatever you feel like practicing.  And have fun, too—for that’s at least half the point!  Just so you know, I am keenly interested in your thoughts on any and everything…agreement, disagreement, whatever.  So…don’t be afraid to challenge or call me on stuff, okay?

May God’s graciousness and everlasting peace be with you as you, yourself, begin to practice…right where you are, right now.

Your friend and fellow warrior-in-training,

Bling