We Must Possess a Strong Sense of Self Before We Can Release It to God

 

"Before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. No one can give up what they do not possess."

Thomas Merton

"We need a strong sense of "who I am" before we can let go of ourselves, of our self-images and self-concerns . . . I remember once befriending a young man who said to me suddenly, almost shocked at making this discovery, 'What are you doing?  You're building up my ego.  I'm trying to get rid of my ego.'  I answered him, 'I have to build it up first because you have no ego to let go of."

Brother David Steindl-Rast

Photo: Six-Shooter Peak and Pinyon Pine, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 26, 2011