Surrender

Surrender is a word/ tool I have often used and practiced (in a way that I understand it), however, my understanding keeps changing as I grow...:)

Surrender usually means letting go and letting god- in full knowledge that god knows what is best for us (has the larger picture in mind). Since I look at god as my father/mother; I look at life from that perspective. 

When I was an infant, I was in complete surrender; but as I grew up, I began to progressively take my own responsibility- my earthly parents expected and appreciated it. and then one fine day (or perhaps it happened gradually), I was on my own. I became an adult (graduated so to say) and started my own family (where I was the god/parent); My children remained in surrender and later progressive freedom until they too flew the nest and became adults in the true sense of the word........and this process would continue with their children! 

Do I want my adult children to live in complete surrender to me? NO, definitely not. But I would like them to know that I am there for them, if they ever need me. And that's exactly what god wants me to know. I cannot remain in passive surrender, expecting god to take care of all my needs, and laying the blame on his/her door when they don't; I must take my own responsibility in full knowledge that I can always ask for help and the help will be granted to me immediately without any judgment whatsoever. 

Similarly, when we were spiritual infants, surrender was our most important tool; but will we always remain infants? Is that what god, the parent wants for us? Would we like our children to always remain infants? Won't they be called invalids then? These are some questions that offer me clarity.

My definition of surrender can be summed up in these lines taken from Alcoholics Anonymous:-

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.