Every day is a god, and its holiness unfolds through the years. And we wake in a god. In arms holding fabrics and quilts ever weaving us inside the dress of ocean’s time. We wake in a kiss. Because we are already kissed. Because the one kissing is the one kissed is the kiss itself. Every day is a god, and its holiness unfolds through the years.
In the language of saints, sages and mystics, in both Eastern and Western spiritual beliefs, the soul is often described as feminine – tender, receptive, open, trusting, surrendering, and offering itself to the Beloved, which depending on belief or religion may be referred to as God, Christ, the divine, the great creator etc. Across sacred writings we find that the path of the seeker is often portrayed through the feminine voice, because the soul itself stands before God in humbleness, and surrendering in love as prayer and deep trust.
In Sufism we find this throughout the writings and poetry, and in Christianity too we see the beautiful Song of Songs, with “I am my Beloved, and my Beloved’s mine”, where the bride offers herself to her bridegroom, Christ. Essentially, whether through songs, poetry or stories, what is unveiled are the spiritual and mystical teachings of the soul’s surrender. The beloved, often portrayed as a woman, is the soul, longing, breaking and refined, until she dissolves into the will of her beloved Lord and God.
In Christiniaty, we have “thy will be done” which is essentially a call for us to surrender and trust in God’s divine timing for us, and I’ll speak of this more below, but we also see poetic story also, for example in Sufisim. For example, as Waris Shah wrote the epic of Heer Ranjha, he was not merely telling a tragic tale of lovers separated by society; he was unveiling the path of the soul and the essence, the feminine and the masculine, yearning for their union beyond the worldly barriers. Heer’s surrender, her wounds, her endurance, and her eventual alignment with love essentially mirror the soul’s submission or surrender to God.
In our modern world, we often face the challenges of materialism, ego, and worldly attachments, which disturb our inner alignment of union. This may make people feel lost, restless, and they may even describe their soul being fragmented or wounded. So often times, the healing balm becomes the mystical poetry, the remembering of surrender, and truly, falling into the grace of deep knowing that thy will be done.
The remembering of surrender, which is the remembering of this softer feminine aspect of ourself is essentially about a certain kind of posture before the divine. A posture of humbleness, of compassion, of softness, receptivity, opening of palms. To come into this posture, or embrace it, means to let go of our need to control everything thinking we are the center of the universe, to let go of our anxieties for the future, of our perfectionisms, of our false identities and ego driven desires, of our arrogance and selfishness and entitlements, and become clay in the hands of God or the Beloved. Only in surrender can our soul be fully embraced by his love.
Thy will be done is essentially a prayerful expression of submitting to God’s divine plan, acknowledging His sovereignty, and trusting that His ways are better than our own, asking for His desires to be fulfilled on earth as they are in Heaven, like in the Lord’s Prayer. It’s about surrendering personal control, seeking alignment with divine purpose, and trusting God’s wisdom even when circumstances are difficult.
Surrender isn’t weakness, it isn’t passivity, it is wisdom, it is trust – and it is reverence towards the divine Beloved, towards divine timing. Surrender invites us to surrender our attachments to control, our selfishness and greed, our extreme ego based desires and compulsions, and recognize we are not in the center of the universe.
This is the end of ego based so-called “manifestations”, and understanding that what we are needing to manifest is God’s will on earth rather than self centered or survival driven or ego driven “things”. So it’s about trusting the universe, trusting yourself and trusting life itself and God, and trusting the flow of your life that your needs will be taken care of.
Surrender invites us into wisdom and into patience of rhythm. We don’t push seeds into the frozen ground in winter, for flowers will not bloom; we’ll only hurt them, and we’ll frustrate ourselves. It’s just not time yet. These are the wisdom of cycles, of the land, of the flow of river and sky.
Some times will call us towards pause, others times will call us forth. Sacred stillness, sacred unfolding. Rest is needed and purposeful, as because this is when the current gathers its strength, and where perhaps others can find you upon the shore. No path is ever walked alone, so it’s not just about our own walking, it is also about the waiting, allowing, receiving.
In our rest and sacred stillness moment, it may be a beacon – for others to find it. Those meant to walk beside you will arrive, drawn by your mere presence and the light you radiate. The path is not only made by your steps only, it is also revealed by all those who join you when you pause.
The timing of their arrival is like the rain though – you cannot command the clouds, but you may nourish and prepare the soil. They will come when the path is ready, not just ready for you but ready for them also, and you together.
Surely sometimes these waiting phases feel like hunger. So we have to learn to hold both hunger and faith in our hand; because hunger itself holds faith. It is precisely in our moments of hunger that we often learn to deepen in trust and faith, and in surrender. It holds mystical secrets also, because it reminds us that even when we are ready to move forth, perhaps it’s not the right time yet, because not everything is about us.
Hunger without faith is restless; but hunger with faith is holy longing. It is the Sufi poems. It is the soul’s surrender – the maiden surrendering to her beloved, to her bridegroom, to be in his love, to be the clay in his divine hands.
Divine timing invites us into this – because it reminds us that even when we can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Behind the scenes all is orchestrated – the allies, the people, the situations, the encounters and beloved companions, the openings.
And tempted by water, tempted by air, like the seeds that have growing beneath the ground, in time they will reach their hands through the soil for merging; and we will see the flowers in their visible shape.
In the times when we are asked to hold hunger and faith are the times of deepening, and so we deepen. Hunger pulls you forward, trust roots you downward. Together, they keep you steady, holding both earth and heaven.
This is when we come into the truth of the saints and sages: that we lean into this trust, we find that strength and surrender are not opposite, they are one. Surrender pulls us into strength, because we need strength to surrender, and strength itself exists because we have surrendered.
Prayer is one of the most powerful ways to deepen your ability to trust and fall into the sacred art of surrender. In prayer, you open yourself and share your deepest self, and you learn you don’t need to carry all by yourself – so give your burden to God, your worries and fears, you don’t need to carry it all on your shoulders.
What happens to us during prayer is that we ourselves open in trust, because what we are doing essentially is opening ourselves and trusting to fall into the arms of that whose face we’ll never see. This is trust. And it’s also helping us to learn that we don’t need to carry it all by ourselves. You don’t need to worry about everything and everyone and yourself neither, give it away to God.
Sacred surrender is about trust. It’s about moving into the full trust that your needs will be taken care of, and really bodily knowing that and coming into this balanced body system. Your body needs to believe it, and remember what it feels like to be in that “sacred surrender” energy. We can’t fall into surrender, and learn to trust it, without actually trusting our bodies and reminding our body what it feels like to be held by something other than ourselves.
A very simple way is salt water pools, where your entire body floats. As you enter, your legs rise over the surface the water, your arms, your entire body, and no matter how tense your muscles are, you’ll still float. Eventually the body relaxes. And as the body relaxes, the mind too relaxes.
It’s also about slowing down. Hurry sends a message of fear to our body, because it thinks that a threat is coming, so it tenses up and goes into defence or survival or fear mode. So slow down. Relax the shoulders, release tension from the jaw, deep and slow breathing, and make it a priority to spend time relaxing each day. Perhaps massage your body and feet before bedtime for better and more relaxing sleep.
Surrender and trust happen when our emotional and nervous system are balanced also. When we feel our nervous system is destabilized, we’ll move into fear and stress and over-worry, so prioritize your stability and emotional wellbeing also. Be mindful of your environment and the people you surround yourself with. You need people who trust and encourage you, and support you, and feel calming to you.
Once you feel calmer and more stable, listen to yourself and what is aligned to you right now. Don’t worry about the future or what you think your life should be – focus on what is your body telling you right now, what is your inner true self telling you about where you need to be moving towards in your life and experiencing. Mainly, know you are not alone in all this – you are not meant to be making things happen all by yourself, life itself will step in and things always align.
Other ways and habits to incorporate: Every day make a conscious choice to release control of something or not be the “doer” or be okay with not knowing something; find something in nature that needs time to grow where the cycles of the land matter and reflect on that; reflect back on your life and think of at least one thing or situation where it all aligned for you in perfect time.
Try to focus on the present moment, and release self judgment about you should have been. Be kind to yourself and remember that we all have our own unique life paths and timings. Focus your energy on what’s thriving and stay in gratitude. Perhaps even look back ten years ago, and see how something you have today is a dream from back then. I assure you there’s at least one thing you prayed for which you now have, there’s at least one dream come true you are now living.
And always always remember:
As rivers flow to sea, what is will always be.
So stay soft, stay open. Keep your heart warm. Trust in the timing of your life, trust in the unfolding of your life. All in its right time will be. What’s meant for you will always find you. It’s inevitable.
Photography by me – from winter snowy lands to our beautiful roses in spring again.
With love and gratitude,
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