Letting Go of Dead Certainties

It was foggy today; so foggy that I couldn’t even see the house next door. I was certain that it was there though.

I sat outside to do my meditation and that’s when I noticed the spider webs. There were webs everywhere—on the grass, in the plants, in the trees—bejeweled webs, made visible by sparkling drops of dew.

Curious that a limitation can be so revealing!

When Mom was dying, a friend gave her a prayer. Mom read it and gave it to me saying, “This sounds more like your kind of prayer.” She was right:

“Gentle me,

Holy One.

Into an unclenched moment,

A deep breathe,

A letting go

Of heavy expectancies,

Of shriveling anxieties,

Of dead certainties.

That, softened by the silence,

Surrounded by the light,

And open to the mystery,

I may be found by wholeness,

Upheld by the unfathomable,

Entranced by the simple,

And filled with the joy

That is you.”