Serenity

My niece is taking an improv class, and I asked her if there was a culminating performance. She responded, “Oh no, I am not ready yet. With improv, you have to rid yourself of the impulse for self-protection. You have to lose your ego and be able to face embarrassment.”

I confess that my ego is all about self-protection and advancement. In a tennis drill, I want the pro to commend my new topspin forehand while ignoring the other participants. At a yoga class I want the teacher to single out my impeccable downward dog (rather than correcting me, which happens all too often). And when a family photo is shared, I pinch my fingers to enlarge my own image, wondering how my hair is looking that day. My ego is insatiable, desperate for self-promotion. And It is emphatic that I NOT sign up for an improv class!

Yes, there is such a thing as a healthy ego. Certainly, in order to love one’s neighbor, one needs to properly love oneself. But our egos need a governor. Jesus ended his Sermon on the Mount with these words, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life, for my sake, will find it.”

John the Baptist encapsulated this ego-check by declaring his life goal for less of himself and more of Jesus. The Bible is clear that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The humble life is spelled out in the beatitudes – the polar opposite of what culture and social promote. (And just hearing them makes my ego put up a fuss!) Blessed are the meek, or those who have reached the end of themselves. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who seek righteousness and are merciful. We are to be washers of feet and intercessory prayer warriors. When doing a good deed, our left hand should refuse to let our right hand be in the know.

Last Sunday in church, participants in the Celebrate Recovery program stood up in front of the whole congregation, said their names and identified their struggles. Codependency, addiction, control, depression. The vulnerability and transparency was amazing. They embodied the words of John the Baptist — less of themselves and more of God.

So we may not be signing up for an improv class. But this very day we can pray for family and friends, and for the world at large. We can encourage one another with sincere compliments. We can at the very least offer a smile. And in our hearts, we can recite the serenity prayer, as it is written on the CR website. Our ego will be chiding us the whole time, but we will be blessed with serenity (peace) by God himself. And what can compare to that?

PRAYER FOR SERENITY

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr