Our commitment to being part of humanity's rebirth is our commitment to fundamental change...We must invite the light into us and restore the bridges, open the gates by which it might enter our lives. Spiritual practice is the opening of the gates, now all but locked against God's love.- Marianne Williamson, Illuminata
In the above lines, Marianne Williamson describes why it is that so many organizations fail in their desire to deliver the loving care called for in their mission statements. No strategic plan can open an organization to Love. No command from the executive office can awaken the spiritual power needed to create fundamental organizational commitment. What is required is an organization-wide recognition and a person by person awakening. How can this occur?...
In a charity, it usually begins with leadership. Mother Theresa created fundamental change through her fierce and unrelenting commitment to a seemingly impossible goal - leading an order of nuns into the darkest slums of Calcutta to tend not simply to the poor, but to "the poorest of the poor." She always described her success with great humility: "I simply followed Jesus and he led me into the slums." She opened the gates of her heart to God's Love and let that Love lead her. She asked us to do small things with great love.
We cannot learn to give great love on a continuous basis by ourselves, or even in teams, without allowing Love's light to shine into our hearts. Martin Luther King could not accomplish the goal of integrating the south simply by writing a book and making a few speeches. He needed to open his heart to Love.
When he did, something mystical happened among his followers as well. As with the followers of Mother Theresa, King's followers sensed the birth of fundamental change. They sensed the light of Love coming through him and it drew them to join in. Why else would tens of thousands of people leave their jobs and join a movement that promised them firehoses, long marches, and time in jail?
Some people call this light charisma. But if they feel the light is attached to a given person, I believe they are mistaken. Leaders and caregivers who live light know that it is passing through them and is not from them.
For us to change, the practice needed is to nudge open the gates of our heart to God's Love by exchanging our will for God's. As Emily Dickinson wrote, "we must always keep our souls ajar, ready for the ecstatic experience."
At the beginning, Love may come in small shafts sneak around the edges of long locked doors. We give love to someone in need and sense a strange feeling of strength and light. Over time and with great patience and persistence, the gates move open, and the light of Love illuminates the pathway to true change and to grace.
It's a challenging process. But what else matters more?
