Long time, no blogging
It feels like I haven't posted something to this blog since Laura Branigan was on top the charts. (Rest in peace, Ms. Branigan!) Things have been really painful at my work, with the departure of two senior staff people, and quite a bit of uncertainty about the future of our organization. Not its longevity...I don't think that's in question. Moreso how we will adapt to the massive changes that are going to take place imminently.
Being occupied by all of this, I've been trying to nourish my life with some passages on change, especially the anxiety that change produces. I think we've all hit crossroad points in life, where all we can do is ride out the major change taking place. A new job, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, a major location change, presidential elections (especially in recent history!) and more - all can produce the type of anxiety that takes us into a really dark place.
Today I resonate with something that Joan Chittister wrote more than ten years ago. For those who haven't read Joan Chittister yet, what the hell are you waiting for? She has a way of piecing together common sense wisdom with real spiritual nourishment - the kind of vignettes you'd find in "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff," if that book was written for seriously contemplative people. (Not that I'm even close to being seriously contemplative, but I digress...)
Anyway, here's Joan reminding us of the potential yield of dark times...
"In a dark time," wrote poet Theodore Roethke, "the eye begins to see." The dark times in life are not our enemy. Dark times empty the world of the things that would otherwise distract us from seeing the important things. Enter the darkness with confidence.
She makes a major point; often times we let dark times take us away from who we are, what we want to do, why we do what we do, etc. We forget what's inside of us that motivates us to make a difference, to be a better person, to create a better world. Here's Joan's challenge:
If what we wait for is not within us in the first place, we wait in vain. To wait with anxiety for peace is never to be peaceful. To wait for public success without feeling good about ourselves is to never know achievement. To wait for the spiritual life without a continuing sense of the presence of God is to be consumers of religion, perhaps, but to miss its meaning.
The waiting out of change. I think that's one of the hardest challenges - to put faith in the struggle rather than faith in worry or anxiety about the end result. Perhaps we are acculturated to approach newness with apprehension. But in so doing, I can't help but wonder if we stray from who we are, and relinquish the control we have over our own pursuit of happiness.
To close with more Joan:
Newness is exciting but not always easy to accept. It often takes a great deal of faith to accept change in life. But then again, newness and change may be one of the few times in life that we really get the chance to believe that God is everywhere, even where we've never been before.
Being occupied by all of this, I've been trying to nourish my life with some passages on change, especially the anxiety that change produces. I think we've all hit crossroad points in life, where all we can do is ride out the major change taking place. A new job, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, a major location change, presidential elections (especially in recent history!) and more - all can produce the type of anxiety that takes us into a really dark place.
Today I resonate with something that Joan Chittister wrote more than ten years ago. For those who haven't read Joan Chittister yet, what the hell are you waiting for? She has a way of piecing together common sense wisdom with real spiritual nourishment - the kind of vignettes you'd find in "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff," if that book was written for seriously contemplative people. (Not that I'm even close to being seriously contemplative, but I digress...)
Anyway, here's Joan reminding us of the potential yield of dark times...
"In a dark time," wrote poet Theodore Roethke, "the eye begins to see." The dark times in life are not our enemy. Dark times empty the world of the things that would otherwise distract us from seeing the important things. Enter the darkness with confidence.
She makes a major point; often times we let dark times take us away from who we are, what we want to do, why we do what we do, etc. We forget what's inside of us that motivates us to make a difference, to be a better person, to create a better world. Here's Joan's challenge:
If what we wait for is not within us in the first place, we wait in vain. To wait with anxiety for peace is never to be peaceful. To wait for public success without feeling good about ourselves is to never know achievement. To wait for the spiritual life without a continuing sense of the presence of God is to be consumers of religion, perhaps, but to miss its meaning.
The waiting out of change. I think that's one of the hardest challenges - to put faith in the struggle rather than faith in worry or anxiety about the end result. Perhaps we are acculturated to approach newness with apprehension. But in so doing, I can't help but wonder if we stray from who we are, and relinquish the control we have over our own pursuit of happiness.
To close with more Joan:
Newness is exciting but not always easy to accept. It often takes a great deal of faith to accept change in life. But then again, newness and change may be one of the few times in life that we really get the chance to believe that God is everywhere, even where we've never been before.
posted by MikeJ at
11:26 AM
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