Day 19

The Great and Powerful "I"

Like the "Great and Powerful Oz" the ego will do anything it can to protect itself and hold on to its power. Creating the illusion that it is larger than reality, it hides away behind any curtain of the mind, fearful that it will be found out for what it is a little man pulling levers and switches.

Pursuing the Oz metaphor a bit further, the ego doubles as a travelling con artist that claims to know the past, present and future. However, it relies on self-promotion (Acclaimed by the Crown Heads of Europe) and deception (playing on our emotions by rummaging around in our 'baggage.')

Sometimes it's hard to 'listen' to the voice of one's life (vocation) because the ego is shouting its demeaning comments and fearful threats: "You dare to come to me for a heart, do you? You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous...." "Do not arouse the wrath of the Great and Powerful Oz! I said 'come back tomorrow!'" But if we listen and trust the voice of vocation, we will hear that we have always had everything we needed to "find our way home."

Even though it lies and tries to bully us into believing we are something we are not, it is part of us - part, not all.

May God give us the courage to stand in the face of our egos until they run out of steam. Then in the stillness, may we hear the voice of God who call us to our true vocation - to come home from the far country.