In remembering a dear friend that died 10 years ago, her husband sent me the piece below. He had taken a line from it for her memorial. I was honored. As I reread what I had written, I was touched by the message that had come through from Spirit. I am resending it because it is as an essential a message today as it was four years ago.

Not too long ago, I would have thought this a little airy-fairy. Spirit has recently given me new insight as to the meaning of this quote. I have offered one change because we are not to be in a battle with our lives and the world. We are in a time of healing, growth, forgiveness and change.

A Spiritual sister of mine was recently visiting. On the way to the airport, she offered a blessing. She asked me to surrender my need to control. I hated it. It made me very angry. I thought that, after all our time together, she didn't see me or know me. I was wrong. It was a matter of perspective and language.

In meditation the next morning, I asked to understand the message because I knew that she would not have said this unless it was important. Here is what Spirit offered. Many of us on the path (of conscious growth, enlightenment, spirituality or whatever language is best for you), take a tremendous amount of responsibility. That responsibility is so engrained that we do not understand what it truly is or the effects it has on our lives. We take responsibility for those who don't take responsibility. We take responsibility for other people's happiness, for their pain, for their pleasure, for their karma - you name it. Many of us have an unconscious guilt for the damage that has been perpetrated on this planet, the animals, the humans and all aspects of Earth even though we have not participated in the perpetration. (Read that sentence again and feel if it resonates within you!)

This type of responsibility is a type of - ready - CONTROL! (That knocked me on my derrière.) I didn't recognize it because it felt like I was doing what any person of integrity would do. I wasn't. I was as out of balance with myself, the planet and Spirit, just as much as any perpetrator only in the opposite way. In this lifetime alone, those who grew up in abusive households and with narcissistic parent(s) (they do go together) learned to be responsible for everything. We learned that we had to control our environments in order to be safe. It was the only way that we, as children, were going to survive. This programming impacts us at the core when we are children.

So, this kind of control is also a form of martyrdom. Martyrdom is taking responsibility for things we have no control over. (Thus, the circle is complete.) What Spirit was offering me through my friend was an opportunity to allow more love in and, therefore, to live in more freedom with greater balance in my life. I share this with you because it is so important.

Surrendering to love is taking your rightful place on this planet. Surrendering to love is allowing Spirit to love you, protect you, support you, encourage you, guide you and heal you - in ways you cannot do on your own. Surrendering to love releases anxiety, shame, fear, anger, restrictions, guilt and all the other emotions that people take drugs to ignore.

Surrender to love today. Take some time to be with you; your body, your mind, your emotions and your soul. Listen to and feel the tightness, the worry, the pain, the responsibility and the suffering. Give them away to Spirit and let Spirit fill you with love. Do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Do it until there is only love. That's what this journey is all about.

Blessings to you on this journey of life,