TBD

 I, like every other human on the planet now or ever, am a work in progress.  The me that I am becoming is being sculpted and shaped into being by each passing day or event.  Every encounter I have with a person has the potential to change me and widen my view of the world if I am only willing to listen and take on his or her perspective. Author, Kelly Corrigan tells the story of her mother observing a gay couple and watched a young man lightly kiss the top of his partner's head and in the blink of an eye, she recognized how natural that simple act of affection was.  This is how we behave when we love another person, she mused; it is as normal as anything can be.  The relationship is not "wrong," the perspective was.  On any number of occasions, Jesus asked his disciples and followers to pay attention with the words, "All who have ears to hear, let them hear."  For two millennia we have been encouraged to listen, to heed, to notice, and to change our hearts.  Every day, I read an article or listen to a podcast and learn something new about a person, a belief system, and ultimately myself.  And I am changed for the better.

I'm changing every day and so is everyone else around me.  As much as we would very much like to take some of our friends and relatives and place them on a shelf to talk to later, the person you take down when you may be ready is not the one you left there to rest a few weeks or months or a Thanksgiving ago.  The growth has been ongoing in them as well as yourself.  Ten years ago, I began working at a Jesuit institution and I thought I finally understood what it meant to serve; I told everyone that I had been changed forever.  But it wasn't possible to just be; little did I know that I was becoming.  Two years ago I went through the Spiritual Exercises and I thought my life would never be the same.  This was it, I thought; I finally understood how God had been moving in my life.  I had the magic potion of discernment.  Last summer I went on pilgrimage and again was convinced this was it; I've got it now.  With each of these life changing events, we shout "Eureka!" and are convinced that we have at long last reached nirvana.  The truth of the matter is that while we have indeed grown in our spiritual practices, we are mistaken if we think we have arrived at some pre-determined finish line. 

When we allow God into our lives to work  in and through us, we give up all thought of there being an end point.  We are never "done."  Our new goal is to grow continually in faith and hope and love.  However, it is far from a direct path.  It is often two steps forward and one step back, but we're still one step ahead of where we were.  The secret is to stay open to God's voice no matter its source.  When we hear of a prayer practice or a new way of being in the world, we can try it on.  How does it feel?  Is it something that might bring us closer to God?  We can take the time to pray with it, talk to others about it and see how it fits into your life journey.  I am learning that as I develop my faith practice, my relationship with God is one that grows in depth as opposed to length.  I may be confronted with an issue that troubles me today and again in a few weeks but each time I come out on the other side at a deeper level of understanding.  So with each new encounter, let us dig deeper and keep discovering who we are becoming today and tomorrow.