One Day My Soul Just Opened Up
By Iyanla Vanzant
Why We Love It – Ann Ferguson
I read “In the Meantime,” and I got some understanding, and then I went back to the author because she is so clear and natural; she’s fantastic. This book is a 40-day study. When you first open it up, you read a section, and then after reading, there’s a journal part; these are what my aha moments were. You think about it all day long, and then in the evening, after thinking about this and working with this principle, you write about what you understood. So this is 40 days towards spiritual strength and personal growth. This book is non-denominational, but it is Christian based.
The first section is honoring the divine, and that includes within you. Next, honor yourself and then honor others. And it’s just so much healing. So much beautiful raw healing where you can reflect with the Savior, the Holy Ghost, or whoever your spiritual guides are.
I learned about trust in this one. I learned not to trust anybody, which sounds weird, but people can do or say anything in anger and fear. And so to trust in somebody doesn’t make sense. To trust in my bells and whistles that go off about somebody is absolute.
So in this one little section, this woman says that she had let her brother into her house because he was starting to get clean and needed a place to be. He was trying to find a job when she came home one day, and he had stolen a lot of her stuff. And it says, “my friend was devastated. Her brother had betrayed her trust. No, I assured her. He had acted in accordance with a human condition of being chemically addicted. He had not really done anything to her. Everything that was stolen could be replaced. It was definitely not a pleasant experience. But why had she expected anything different? She couldn’t explain it. A person who is trying is not doing. Either they are or are not a particular thing. There’s nothing between trying and doing that could be trusted.”
It goes on, she says, she didn’t mind that the television had been stolen. But her brother jimmied the lock on her bedroom door, where he found the good stuff. And then here, “if she trusted her brother, I asked, why did she have a lock on the bedroom door? The truth of the matter is she did not really trust him. She had put her trust in what he said rather than trusting the divine wisdom. That motivated her to lock the door.”
There’s so much more to this, and it’s so deep. And then I went, oh my gosh, yes. I don’t trust people, and yet I am very trusting. I don’t block people. I am very aware.
So I had a situation with a family member just this week where I don’t trust that this person will show up in any particular way. I understand that if I am drawn to reach out, I will do that, and I don’t trust this person will respond appropriately. I know it’s my requirement when it’s put into my heart to do something, so I do.