Saturday, January 29, 2011

Conceding that we are who we are

"Talking in the Rain" by Margret Hofheinz-Döring

I regularly remind directees (and myself, for that matter) that we are all mixtures and that trying to fulfill an idealized self-image is both impossible and spiritually damaging. Here's a little something about that:
Maybe one day we'll grow weary of whining and celebrate the rain, the manna, the half-filled glass of water, the little gifts from heaven that make each day bearable. Instead of cloaking ourselves in the armor of pessimism, maybe we'll concede that we are who we are: capricious, unfortune, wonderful, delicate, alive. Forgiven.
— Mark Collins in On the Road to Emmaus

2 comments:

  1. Ellie, I was moved by this - thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this. I'm currently reading Thomas Merton's "No Man Is an Island," and my reading for today was surprisingly in synch with your post:

    "The relative perfection which we must attain to in this life if we are to live as sons of God is not the twenty-four-hour-a-day production of perfect acts of virtue, but a life from which practically all the obstacles to God's love have been removed or overcome....

    We cannot master everything, taste everything, understand everything, drain every experience to its last dregs. But if we have the courage to let almost everything else go, we will probably be able to retain the one thing necessary for us--whatever it may be. If we are too eager to have everything, we will almost certainly miss even the one thing we need."

    ReplyDelete

New policy: Anonymous posts must be signed or they will be deleted. Pick a name, any name (it could be Paperclip or Doorknob), but identify yourself in some way. Thank you.