Comforting Words: Christmas Reflection #8

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Christmas Reflection #8


I came across a very interesting quote in the June 2005 issue of The United Church Observer that succinctly describes my eighth lesson of this year.

“Figuring out who you are, then acting like it, means taking risks.”

David Wilson wrote these words in his article about the United Church of Christ in the USA (Observer, June 2005, page 32) but they resonate completely with the personal mission that I have been on, one that thrusts me into dark places and places of light.

Being authentic and living authentically means taking risks – something that never really scared me. Teresa of Avila would probably call this living in the “Interior Castle,” of who you are. I would also describe it as moving out of the narrow places.

As this year comes to an end, I am not only moving out of narrow places, I have demolished quite a few that I once inhabited and working on evacuating others. This is not simply hard labour, it is a venture that involves much emotional suffering.

My own words, from my article “Tell the People to Move Forward,” serve as a balm during the times of intense suffering:

"If we are to grow, if we are to move on to the next level, if we are to become all that we can be and make a way for the next generation, there will be pain and, because we are humans - thinking beings - there will be suffering."

And so I move forward, into 2006, acting on what I figure God has call me to be. It is a risky endeavour and often I am misunderstood but the duet, Mary, Mary, says it well: “I just can’t give up now; I’ve come too far from where I started from…”

What about you – will you risk the possibilities of being all that you are called to be?

Blessings,

Claudette

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