How do we prepare ourselves to accept?

Today I went to church for Palm Sunday and the opportunity to hear Rutter’s Requiem being performed. The reflections and prayers leading up to the performance of the music were brief but the reverend made one statement that had my friend and a me viscerally take notice. He spoke of Jesus’ preparation and acceptance of the week ahead of him, humanizing this experience. Now for those of you who don’t know this upcoming week in Christianity is Jesus’ big week. He had to accept betrayal and death as God’s will for the greater good. Big stuff to think about as you enter a city.

You hear about the power behind not accepting and we are often inspired by the resilience of the human spirit. The very powerful “do not accept defeat”, do not accept less, do not accepting limitations of disabilities and many more. These are attitudes that have inspired the “can do spirit” that we carry with great American pride.

I wonder if we, as a society, could be inspired and flourish living with acceptance. Simple acceptance such as: accept a compliment, accept an invitation, accept a challenge that may just end in defeat. Maybe accept that we may be part of a plan for a greater good, accept help and the very difficult accepting advice, particularly difficult for the young when being given from an elder. Accept that you may not be number one because there has to be a number two. I believe that this practice of acceptance may be able to put a positive spin on achievement. Accept that you could try harder to accept someone who is different from you. Accept that you have a disability that you are working beyond and inspiring everyone around you. Accept that battles lie ahead but know you have the opportunity to fight them. Accepting defeat is part of life but we have the chance to learn and grow.

Most of my days are big. I have loads of responsibility with family and a job demands, with those things comes a lot of acceptance, a lot! I am not however accepting defeat but accepting how to grow within the facts before me. Acceptance of the greater good.