Reflections

Our ego must be healthy before we can let it go and be beyond it.
It seems that so many young people in the Christian church are moving back towards a creation-centered understanding of Jesus' teachings. Realizing that who we are IS beautiful, because we are an expression of God--that our innermost beings are not bad or evil, that we need not believe the deceptions of shame, guilt, or self-hatred. But rather delight in God in us.
The ego is our perception of ourself and how we want others to percieve us. It is the wall we build, the facade we recreate daily to feel acceptable to ourselves and impressive to others. It is seperation, alienation, and an obstruction to our True selves....the place within us where God dwells.
In order to move deeper, to reach a fullness of understanding, we must shed our egos like a snake sheds old skin that doesn't fit anymore. But in order to leave our ego behind, it must be a healthy one. If anyone thinks they are the best, if anyone thinks they are the worst- it is an unhealthy ego and cannot be shed.
For a person who has grown up in the redemption-centered Christian church, who has daily been confronted with guilt and shame and feelings of inadequacy or incapability- the ego is a wounded creature. This image of yourself must be healed before you can let it go.
For once it is healed and you understand the gift of yourself, the unique and irreplaceable expression of God that you are- you don't have to present a facade or worry about silly things...you can let go of that which you have held onto so tightly- you don't have to impress anyone, or prove yourself to anyone. you don't have to be someone you are not.
The ego is a barrier and will keep you from truly connecting with others, with God, with yourself. Once it is healed, it can be let go.

How beautiful to realze that we are all One, and yet distinct and unique expressions of God, simultaneously. i had thought that maybe there was some conflict there...but someone wise pointed out to me that as we celebrate our uniqueness and gifts we are reminded of our interconnectedness,(The hand cannot function without the eye), and as we remember we are all One, we can delight in the beauty that we create together, because of our very differences creating a fuller reflection of his/her Divine face.