Sunday reflection...

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

--St. Francis of Assisi

I found this quote today and it really made me think...how often I focus on what I think is necessary but in the end is it really necessary.  Or rather are they things I want to do to avoid other things, are they things that I place in the category of necessary only to avoid the things that I really should focus on. I have thought that the necessary are those things that have a certain level of obligation attached to them.  They are things that bring good and comfort to others...they are the things that call to use to utilize our energy.  The necessary are those things that make us happy and complete but in evaluating what makes them necessary what level of existence are they -- physical, mental or physical. There in lies the essence of the evaluative.  We should be focusing on those things that add to our spirit and move us closer to the LIGHT.  Yet, in reality for me those are often the things that fall into the category -- Oh yea I will get to that -- or I do lots of planning and never really acting. The necessary are those things we cannot avoid or maybe better said those things we should not avoid because in the end their reward has a much deeper meaning or level of satisfaction.  The necessary are those elements of obligations that will make us a better person and also are towards assisting others...they cannot be avoided.  When they are there is an angst within for not acting.

The possible -- what falls in that category -- not to be too philosophical but the possible are those elements of our life which are not so much easy to do but those things that move us to a higher level of existence.  They are those things where we take the risk and approach the unknown.  They are possible when we give up our fear.  The possible things are those elements that whisper --it is ok, you can do this. If we are honest with ourselves the possible things are those things that we deeply know within our core that we can do -- the things that if we let go of the safety-net we can conquer them.  

If you consider the life of St Francis we see that once he stopped living for himself, and living for and with the divine, those things that were possible took on a totally different framework.  They were no longer the things that he had long talks with himself why he could not do them, or why they were not meant for him.  They were not the things that brought inner and emotional/spiritual pain. The move to the LIGHT gave him a new energy and trust -- in essence this move gave him a new happiness and a new vision of his call.  This is what I feel he is saying here in this passage. As the scripture today says --

Pay attention, come to me;

listen, and your soul will live.

It is when we trust -- when we let go of the human limits that the impossible things become the routine and become those things that make us complete and paint the picture of who we are -- there is a new freedom. It is this freedom that brings truth and peace of mind -- the completion we each long for.

And so I began with a quote in this reflection and give you another to consider -