Living as a Creative Survivalist- "Concentrate on the bare essentials, so you'll really live."

        "Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way - but for what is right - using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour." 

Luke 16:8-9

This passage, so eloquently put in the Message version of the Bible speaks very much to my story and my intuition. Sometimes it feels like no matter how hard I try to do things in the law abiding acceptable ways, it gets me nowhere. If I am having a good day, I will realize the yearning to provide for myself and family, the constant pressure to keep my skill set up to date, to increase my income, to meet the bottom line, it's all stuff the birds never do.

The birds just build a nest from whatever they find suitable around them, the eat, they fly, they chirp. Inside, my voice is often telling me to lean into my current capabilities, how birds (who are naked underneath their feathers, by the way) just do their thing. The outside tells me I am not good enough, ever. Especially when I am at the mall, or asked to drop my daughter off two blocks down from her friends or school so no one will see that we don't own an Audi or a BMW.

Two nights ago I tried to explain in a concise way, how I am constantly feeling called to live. (from the inside voice). I definitely wouldn't get by on the good behaviour, so I'm glad there is another way. This passage really takes the shame out of the things I've done that are not considered to be upstanding motherly things. I am sure most of us have unproud moments that still felt right, felt necessary, but it seemed confusing. And on the outside the upstanding folks didn't like it.

Here in this passage, is a good place to practice casting off the layers of self condemnation and start seeing how goodness can be found in any role. It explains that the key here is that no one falls outside the circle of acceptance, no matter what they are doing to survive physically, emotionally, in all the ways necessary.

How does a person focus on the bare essentials? I like to think of these things. The here and now. The connections. Compassionate thoughts. Noticing feelings in the midst of circumstance, and then remembering who I am. Taking big, deep breaths. Building a nest, bird seed.

And what is right? The best way I understand this is, only I know what seems right, for me. Living as a creative survivalist probably involves some discomfort (to take this analogy even further), but it seems to me a good reason to commit to honouring your own walk.

Chirp chirp