When we think, hear or understand something that is deeply true for us, our inner teachers rise in us as a delicious, lucid resonance. When we grasp truth, any truth, from the correct solution to a math problem, to the capacity for love, all of our ways of knowing align.
When you grow up with no education around the concept of divinity, but you hear of a God mentioned in certain circles and language expressions, you make your own representation. “Our Father who art in Heaven” must be like … my father. So God became someone to fear. Someone to please. Someone whose whims could never really be anticipated but had to if you wanted to be safe. Someone who struck you when you were wrong – and you prayed for just the thunder and not the beating.
I used to be passionate, intense, outspoken – meaning also putting a foot in my mouth more often than not. Not that I miss the latter. One small but sure step at a time I find that I am pushing myself into silence, into a not my monkeys, not my battle sort of attitude.
“It is easy to love a flawless God, with no stain and no mistake, the way He is. What is much harder is to love your fellow human, with all their habits and flaws. There is no wisdom without love. We cannot truly love Him or know Him until we learn to love Allah’s children.” (The Forty Laws of Love, Elif Shafak, pg. 120)
This morning I am lending my space to my newly discovered Minister and church. A blessing on Orthodox Palm Sunday. I have long broken off the hypocritical and greedy Orthodox Church but Easter still holds a special place in my heart as the quintessential celebration of resurrection and hope against all odds.
The only way we can build our children up to be resilient and strong is to allow them to feel hardship, to struggle, to have it hard. Sure, unconditional love and their basic needs must be, to the best of our abilities, provided for, but for the rest, how about we trust the individuals we are raising to emerge stronger out of this, ready to lead a world of tomorrow that we have a very, very hard time picturing at this point?
Partnering with students, families and schools towards effective cultural transition
Perspectives on International Education, Personal Memoirs and Reflections, and Essays
Reality Courage Ideas
Reality Courage Ideas
Reality Courage Ideas
Reality Courage Ideas
Reality Courage Ideas
Reality Courage Ideas
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