I was reading The Rise on the plane the other day. Yes, on a plane during the pandemic. Had a mask on. We’re good. I’ve always treated planes as though they carried the plague. But no one is laughing about my Handi wipes now, are they? Now they want their own!
Off my soapbox. Actually, I’m going to surrender my soapbox to the ether.
Surrender
The word surrender came up in the book as Sarah Lewis talks to Ben Saunders whose job is exploring. Quite literally. He became the third person in the world to reach the North Pole solo and on foot. Sarah Lewis was talking about how he survived that journey and he had some really thoughtful responses. He said that when he finally surrendered to the idea that he might die, that indeed dying was inevitable in this life and that it could be closer for him than he was really comfortable with, he was able to experience his adventure more deeply and come to be almost one with his surroundings, creating a moment in his life that was unforgettable.
Surrender
How much do we actually surrender to the reality of what this life is: a blip in time that we can’t get back with the only certain thing being death?
As a Christian, I have a firm faith in where I’m going after this life, but that doesn’t mean that I have surrendered my life to my Savior. Christian or non, I see most people, in fact, haven’t surrendered to the idea that this life is but a moment.
Walking through the streets of my new city, I see that most of us are still trapped in trying to control our lives as though we can hold off death by sheer will. We yell at people over masks, we breakup our friendships over politics, we judge people who we will never meet due to what they say in a two second clip, we allow ourselves to form ideas of other countries, cultures and people with little to no experience. We do all of this instead of really thinking about what it means to love people and to live our best life. Is our best life spent yelling at people and refusing to talk to people because they have different views than us? Ore perhaps better said, is our job here in this earth, this moment in time that is but a breeze in history, to dominate others or to lift them up?
Surrender!
To the fact that people have different experiences and thoughts. Surrender to the certainty that you will die, possibly even tomorrow, and see the world through that truth. Surrender to the knowledge that living your life in love towards others will leave a much longer and better impression than that of someone who is frantically trying to control themselves, those around them and the narrative. You will wear yourself out and be left alone.
Surrender.
Knowing that today could be your last day, knowing that you are going to die, knowing that you aren’t living half as deep, experiencing half as much as you actually could, is not a new idea but it is one that we must revisit again and again in order to keep ourselves surrendering.
But surrendering doesn’t mean to stick your head in the sand and live life for yourself. It doesn’t mean grabbing as much money for you and your family and living a jet-set life of overconsumption. That isn’t experiencing life to the fullest. Living on the beach and doing nothing but drink margaritas everyday isn’t living your best life.
Sur-ren-der
Instead surrender means knowing people will criticize you for your job choices, marriage choices, family choices, political choices, etc. and being able to accept that and surrender it up to God. It means to smile when someone insults you instead of allowing the offense to take root. Surrendering each day means you know full well you are only in control of yourself and your attitude, so you don’t waste your energy frantically trying to change them, but instead smiling, taking a deep breath and releasing them to have their own views, opinions and beliefs. EVEN WHEN YOU THINK THEY ARE WRONG.
SURRENDER
Surrendering means that when you come across something in the world that breaks your heart and rightly stirs up anger against the wickedness, that you step back, process the situation and genuinely ask yourself what you can do. But don’t start at the end of the situation, shrug and say, “Little me can’t do anything to get to that end.” Instead you process and process until you can come up with a step that is small enough for you to handle.
Does work trafficking break your heart? Buy Fair Trade. Does sex trafficking break your heart? Don’t consume porn. Does corruption break your heart? Be diligent in the local politics and write to your representatives. Does kids being left behind in society break your heart? Volunteer at an after-school NGO.
As you surrender you can shift through the steps you can take now and process through how far you want to take it in the future. You can choose to climb the mountain despite being 50 and everyone saying it’s a joke. Shake it off. Surrender their opinions to the wind and climb the mountain.
surrendered
It’s a daily habit that must be made. One that starts in the morning and continues throughout the day, but I am truly starting to see it as the habit that has allowed some people to live their life to the very fullest that they possibly can. It doesn’t mean there won’t be hard days, but once a habit of processing interactions and situations in life through surrendering, then no matter how hard or hurtful the incident, our minds will come back to figuring out how to surrender even that hard moment.
I, for one, am happy I have a great being to surrender my life and situations in my life to. If you want to learn more about why I find this the best way, feel free to message me. I would love to share it with you.