Lindsay L. O'Connor

Rooted

Life is change and all change is loss.
Even gain is loss of the empty space
that the new thing now occupies.
The emptiness may have been unpleasant, 
but it was also familiar,
and for many of us, 
familiarity breeds security
due to a sense of predictability
and control.

Loss—and therefore, change—
breaks us wide open
as we’re confronted with the reality
that we are not in control.
The possibility of surrender presents itself.

Over time, we become rooted but open-
rooted in the constants
we’ve learned to lean on
amidst change we can’t control—
the steady companion
of the Self we are learning to love,
the unwavering reality of Love, Herself,
present if we will open awareness to her.

And when Love is too difficult to take in,
too vulnerable to be with,
the steadiness of the daily roots us too…
the laundry must be done,
meals prepared,
our responsibilities to others
reminding us that we do, indeed, matter.

Life is unchosen change, 
and all change is loss
and loss is a portal
to transformation via surrender.

Every small unchosen change,
every little grief,
every minor suffering
when The World or our world
is not as we wish it to be,
is an opportunity to practice surrender
and in so doing, to find clarity
for what is ours to do and what isn’t
and to discover
that we remain absolutely,
unfailingly, ever held 
in the perfect Love
that sustains all things.