REDEEM

A WORD LIKE LIGHT: REDEEM

       When I was a boy growing up in a traditional Christian church, I was taught that the word ‘redeem’ referred to the saving of ‘sinners’ from eternal punishment, but now, in my pleasant and wiser old age, I understand the word in a very different way. It derives from an old Latin word which meant ‘buy back’, and I now see that, in a sense, I am ‘bought back’ every single moment – bought back by the eternal present moment from seemingly all-encompassing worries and fears.  Right now, as I’m sitting at my computer and typing these words, all of my material concerns are being redeemed – exchanged, or swapped – for the shining, brand new light of the present moment.  It’s as if I’m at the counter of the universe’s mega-store each moment, returning a phony belief about the restricted and scary nature of life, and receiving, in exchange, the truth about life’s free-wheeling, boundless, and lavishly generous nature. Perhaps this store is called HEREANDNOW, and look! – here, right now, comes young 81-year-old me out through the door with a smile almost as wide as the sky, pleased that he has, once again, redeemed fears and worries for a boundless life of peace and patience and – best of all – everlasting presence.