sleep

I go to a discussion group called Socrates Cafe and tonight's question was, "What's so bad about giving up?" The conversation went all over the board, from giving up related to death, giving up as in failure, giving up as in letting go of possessions. It was amazing. It always is. But tonight was especially for me.

Talking about struggle, that struggle is painful. It'd be easier to give up. We're taught to avoid pain. But we have to hurt in order to heal. 

(I like the fact that the guy who said the above was someone I hadn't particularly warmed to, in a philosophical stance sort of way, but this goes to show how little we actually know about someone, when we think we have them figured out.)

That we have to "lay down," as in acceptance. My life is not my own. 

It's about discernment, and wisdom, prudence, and courage to know when to give up. It's not about being on one side or the other. 

Every time we make a decision, we are giving up something.

It's about accepting that you cannot do it on your own, and asking for help.

Practical wisdom: what works in one situation might work best opposite in the next situation.

And my favorite part of all was a poem that was shared. It is God speaking:

Charles Peguy - Sleep

Human wisdom says "Don’t put off until tomorrow
What can be done the very same day."
But I tell you that he who knows how to put off until tomorrow
Is the most agreeable to God
He who sleeps like a child
Is also he who sleeps like my darling Hope.
And I tell you Put off until tomorrow
Those worries and those troubles which are gnawing at you today
Put off until tomorrow those sobs that choke you
When you see today’s unhappiness.
Those sobs which rise up and strangle you.
Put off until tomorrow those tears which fill your eyes and your head,
Flooding you, rolling down your cheeks,
those tears which stream down your cheeks.
Because between now and tomorrow,
maybe I, God, will have passed by your way.
Human wisdom says: Woe to the man who puts off
what he has to do until tomorrow.
And I say Blessed, blessed is the man who puts off
what he has to do until tomorrow.
Blessed is he who puts off. That is to say,
blessed is he who hopes. And who sleeps.