Piloting Faith: Learning to heal even as we hurt...
A Word for the Day...
I will be leading a personal transformation retreat on March 20-22, 2020, with a colleague of mine, Elaine Gibson, who has been a psychotherapist for almost 50 years. As we were planning the experience, we talked about grief - how it "has its way" with us and how much of her work in psychology and my work in theology has been about helping people live with joy even as they navigate heartbreak.
"Do you suppose that we are all living with some level of grief all of the time," I asked her. "That the human journey is about learning to heal even as we hurt?"
She paused to consider that. "Yes, that is exactly the dance. Like a labyrinth, we circle in and circle out. Each circle changes us, costs us, and helps us grow. The gift we give each other is accompanying one another on the journey."
Jeff Foster once said, "A true healer does not heal you; she simply reflects back to you your innate capacity to heal. She is a reflector or a loving transparency. A true teacher does not teach you; she does not see you as inherently separate from her, or less than her. She simply reflects back your own inner knowing and reminds you of the vastness of your being. She is a mirror, a signpost. And love is the space in which all of this is possible; love heals, and we learn best in a loving field, no threat of failure, no punishment."
We are mirrors for one another. Consider today that you are a healer and teacher to the rest of us because you are a reflection of God's love.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
Prayer for the Week
Enlighten my mind with truth,
Enflame my heart with love,
Inspire my will with courage,
Enrich my life with service,
Pardon where I fall short,
Sanctify what I am,
Order what I shall be,
For thine shall be the glory,
Forever and ever,
Amen.
- Author unknown