The Miracle of Surrender

 By Monk George Lopez

Miracles are everywhere. They come when we least expect them and when we need them most. I wanted to share a miracle that moved my heart and deepened my faith in this world and the next.

Most of you know my journey of late, of my mom’s illness and eventual crossing over. The last phase of this journey has been clearing the home I grew up in and preparing to sell it. The house and the land it’s on has held us in good times and bad, joy and sorrow, birth and death, it has been home in the truest sense.

The process of letting go was epic. There was so much to go through, yet very little to keep. There was purpose in the process. Connecting at a heart level one last time to truly release. Just about every art project my brother, sister, and I ever made. Cards, a box tucked away with most of the cards we had ever sent her. So many photos, so many albums. Boxes of stuffed animals. Silly things that were hard to part with. I would put things aside thinking I can’t part with this, but in a week or two realize it was only memories I was trying to hold onto. Attachment. Pretty soon the house was empty. While the letting go was hard, this last step was so final. Surrender.

I had so much support during this process. I was truly held. Liza. My prayer group. My teachers, Lisa and Maya. Bobee, Dana, Plamen. Padre and the CLM community. Everyone contributed with information, suggestions, possibilities. Mostly prayer and listening. But in the end the final decision was mine and mine alone.

It was divinely timed to be right about at the end of a huge housing market ride that was about to slow down. There wasn’t the onslaught of offers and cash bidding wars that so many predicted. Yet, in truth, it was all perfect. All in God’s hands. Surrender. In the end, it came to 2 offers that were basically the same amount, both solid. I didn’t know which one to choose. I wasn’t even truly sure if I was supposed to sell. My gut told me it was time to let go. To let someone else love the house and land the way we had. To truly bless it and then release it. Surrender.

It came time for me to make the decision which offer to go with. I was at the end of my rope and I was truly exhausted. In the middle of a beautiful sunny day, I literally broke down crying. I called out to God for help. I don’t know what to do. I called out to my mom to help me. Can you give me a sign? Am I doing the right thing? I was leaning toward a couple and their dog. Was that the right choice? Anything?

I walked outside into the yard, into the sunshine, into the light. Right outside my mom’s bedroom is an orange tree. She was so proud of the house, the yard, her trees. She would email me “I wish you could come down, the orange tree is full and they are the sweetest and juiciest they have ever been”.

As I stood there a butterfly came. My mom always said butterflies were a sign. It sounds so silly, even now as I write this. But something magical happened in the moment. Divine, holy presence descended on me and filled my space, the yard right where I was standing and filled my heart. This butterfly circled the tree and circled me for about 5 or 6 minutes. It would come right up to me and then circle the orange tree. Then come up right by my face, it came so close to me. It would fly all around my head and body and then back to the tree. I knew it was my mom. I knew it was her giving me her blessing. I could feel it in every bone of my body. It was a knowing. Ask and it is given. Knock and I will answer. Be still and know that I am God. Surrender.

The Way Of Mastery says: “Surrender is a way of being in which your consciousness becomes totally open to your union with all of Creation. And you will talk with a leaf as it falls from a tree. You will see the soul of the kitten that you pet. And you will talk with angels and Masters.” And with butterflies. And with those that have gone before us.

If we ask, God answers. Sometimes in the most amazing ways. Ways that only we can be sure of. The truth is known only to each of us, deep in our hearts. Something shifts and you know you’re not alone. You know your next step, even if all the others that follow are still a mystery. You know you aren’t taking the next step alone. “The Lord goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” Surrender. Trust. You are never alone.


Many blessings.
Monk George