 “The Daily Word reading on the theme of “Surrender” (Saturday 24th May) really spoke to me. Anyone who has met me might have observed that I tend to wear around my neck various mala necklaces made of semi-precious stones and a wooden cross. Also a couple of chakra bracelets on my right wrist. On my left hand middle finger I wear a simple, gold signet ring. It is always there and I very rarely take it off, except when having a shower or bath, or doing the washing-up. Occasionally I might take it off when I am practising the piano, but not very often. It was given to me by my mother and it belonged to her father whom I never met as he had passed before I was born . I do not think it has any particular monetary value but is very sentimental and carries a deep meaning for me.
It was around midday on Friday that I noticed that it had gone. Where? I had no idea. I checked the bathroom, kitchen and piano, floors in the living room and bedroom, all to no avail. It is a fairly tight fit so it is unlikely that it would have suddenly fallen off somewhere. What to do? I was frustrated because I do not lose things. Sometimes I wish I could lose things, like all the clutter in my house and also my extra weight which has accumulated over the years thanks to an over-indulgence of non-ideal foods including burgers and chocolate cake, together with very little exercise (work is in progress on all of those). Also there are people living under my stairs (called “Borrowers”) who take things away for a short time (usually the very thing I need at a certain time) and then return it (usually when I don’t need it), but somehow I did not feel that they were to blame. What to do? I tried the traditional method of retracing one’s steps. That did not get me anywhere apart from recalling that Friday morning is our rubbish and recycling collection, so we put our bags out on late Thursday evening. That seemed to be the only logical explanation. Somehow my ring must have fallen into one of the bags without my noticing, and was now long gone. I said a prayer to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost things (we Catholics do love our Saints!), surrendered and released it, blessing it on its journey to wherever it was going. I had to admit defeat which was not easy because I am not a defeatist. On Saturday afternoon I was preparing some music for Sunday Morning’s church Service and spotted a Sainsbury “bag for life” on the floor in my music room, containing some packets of dried pasta and tins of vegetables and fruit, which I had bought on Thursday afternoon and had not yet put away. So I thought “let’s tidy up” and proceeded to put them into the various places and cupboards where they needed to go. Then I turned the empty bag upside down to fold it and something small fell out of the bag onto the floor. The rest of the story you can guess. The affirmation “I surrender my worldly efforts and rely upon God within” was so appropriate. I had exhausted my worldly efforts and finally surrendered to Spirit. Why did I not do that first? That is not to say that we can simply sit back and let God do everything for us with little or no effort from ourselves, but it reminded me that often we might tend to go to God as a last resort when all else fails. Is it because we don’t want to bother God, or are we embarrassed or do we think that He has more important things to do than be concerned with our trivialities? That is my story and I will let you make of it what you will. The Latin phrase “quod perierat inventus est” immediately comes to mind, but for now I will say a simple Deo Gratias!” Dr. Gregory Porilo Licensed Unity Teacher
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