UMC20250220 - Immortal Diamond¶
I recently read Immortal Diamond - The Search for Our True Self by Father Richard Rohr, a Catholic Franciscan. The whole book is about our journey to discover what he calls our "True Self," or what is traditionally called the "soul." It is the eternal part of us that wants for nothing and is content simply in being. Rohr argues that this True Self is hidden beneath layers of striving, expectations, and the false (though not bad) identities we create for ourselves.
Lately, this is something I have been needing. I often catch myself in a state of striving—this desire to push to accomplish more so that feel like I’ve done enough in a day or a week. Being goal-driven is great for getting things done, but it does not give me peace. Even after a fulfilling Sunday at church, I find my mind racing again by the afternoon, already planning the next task, the next project. It’s as if my heart refuses to settle, always reaching.
I am realizing just how frequently I need to "stop and smell the roses." But more than that, I need to continuously create space for stillness—not as a requirement of faith, but as a necessity. Without it, I remain restless. It reminds me of something I once heard about a person of faith—maybe Desmond Tutu I can't remember—who said he wakes up at 4 a.m. every day to pray, and if he has an especially busy day planned ahead, he wakes up at 3 a.m. Most of us feel the opposite. We think prayer is something we do if we have time, rather than something that creates the time and peace we need.
Perhaps true peace isn’t something we achieve through effort, but something we allow by making space for God.
Love, Cliff