Unbind

There have been plenty of times in the last month where I have started writing a post only to delete the whole thing. I know that I am going through a significant transition time in my own spiritual life and sometimes that can be a bit messy. You can throw the pain of it out onto other people and be a little less positive about life than usual. So you can imagine how some of those unpublished posts may have read. 

But today it seems to flow a little easier, with a little less cynicism and a little more integrity. And funnily enough it takes me back to the near the beginning of this time of change. At the end of July I attended a Christian Meditation Community retreat with our Christian Meditation group. The theme for the retreat was "The Lazarus Story - unbinding and going free". The theme spoke straight into what I was going through and gave it a name. We spoke about freedom and what this really means in our lives. 

I had just come through a time of growth and feel a new sense of freedom. What I hadn't anticipated was the learning that would need to occur in order to be free. It seemed such a simple thing - to be free. But who knew that you would need to learn to be free. There is so much unbinding, so much unlearning, so much adjusting to be done. I certainly don't claim to be through this time of unbinding, but I'm through it enough to see what it is. Here is a humble attempt to describe it based on Lazarus imagery. 

Unbind

Awakened from sleep

Eyes opened to light 

All I longed for now blinds me in pain

Numb muscles of death

Now frozen in fear

Your familiar voice calls again

Freedom's lure is cast

A promise of life

Warm blood through dry veins starts to seep

At the door trembling

Each step hesitates

My heart races, the soul wants to leap

Stumbling and tripping

Bound by death's clothing

The tomb's safety beckons and calls

Constrained by the known

Held tight and secure

Life unravels and at my feet falls

"Unbind and let go

Loosen and set free"

Rags peel from my face, spill to the ground

Shallow breathing ends

Lungs fill and expand

Let this new life begin, I am found.