The Call From Within

https://youtu.be/I1ECHPyPhtM?si=IpceWYzQxL80Z3ad

Our so-called journey on earth is only to awaken from the sleep of a personal self and to awaken to the realization of God as our reality. What we are inside is that pure consciousness, everlasting pure harmony. Oneness.”
— Mooji

What if much of our struggle comes from being asleep to who we really are?

We spend a lifetime building the person we think we are. Our name. Our career. Our reputation. Our accomplishments. Our failures. Our resentments. Our fears. We defend this person relentlessly. We compare him to others. We worry about what people think of him. We replay what happened to him yesterday and obsess over what might happen to him tomorrow.

And somewhere underneath all of that noise is the person God created.

Maybe part of our spiritual journey is waking up.

Jesus continually called people away from themselves and toward something greater. He said:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” — Luke 9:23

I used to think denying myself meant simply giving things up. Maybe it goes deeper than that.

Perhaps I also have to give up my obsession with the idea of me.

My need to be right.
My need to be recognized.
My need to control the outcome.
My need to defend myself.
My need to make life unfold according to my plans.

That personal self can become incredibly loud.

What about me?

What will happen to me?

Why did they do that to me?

Why don't I have what they have?

And God quietly remains beneath all of it.

I am here.

There is something beautiful about Mooji's idea of awakening from “the sleep of a personal self.” As a Christian, I understand that awakening as something even more personal: not discovering that I am God, but discovering that my deepest identity is found in God.

Paul wrote:

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:3

Maybe that's the awakening.

The realization that I don't have to spend my entire life protecting this little version of myself I have constructed.

I can loosen my grip.

I can stop trying to control every person, every opinion, every outcome and every tomorrow.

I can become quiet enough to recognize that God was here before my fear arrived, God is here while I'm struggling, and God will still be here when everything I thought defined me eventually disappears.

My titles will disappear.

My possessions will belong to someone else.

My body will return to the earth.

Even my name will eventually become a memory.

But God remains.

So perhaps the journey isn't about becoming more important.

Maybe it's about becoming less occupied with myself.

Less ego.
Less fear.
Less control.
Less me.

And more God.

“He must become greater; I must become less.” — John 3:30

Lord, awaken me from the person I think I have to be.

Quiet the voice inside me that constantly demands attention, recognition, control and certainty.

Help me remember that my life is not something I have to hold together by myself.

Strip away everything false until what remains is the person You created me to be.

Let me wake each morning a little less consumed with myself and a little more aware of You.

Less of me. More of You.

Amen.