I’ve been surprised by something these past few days: it has been hard for me to believe good, kind, and affirming words about myself. Now maybe that doesn’t sound all that shocking, but given who the words have come from and how they have spoken the truth about my deepest hopes and dreams for myself and “ministry/call,” you’d think I’d be better able to accept them – even welcome them.
I think the dilemma is exactly the fact that they did speak to my deepest hopes and dreams. Dare I hope and dream such things? When someone else puts words to them – without me asking for such – it somehow gets them out there, makes them more real, and creates the potential for disappointment.
For now, I want to be able to accept them – and say thank you to those of you who have offered me such generous gifts in your choice to name and bless such things in me. For now, I want to be able to hope and dream. Disappointment is a quick enough tag-along. What if I held it back? What if I really allowed myself to enjoy good things that others enjoy in me? What if?
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
May it be so. May I believe what I have heard – and keep hoping and dreaming!
SUBSCRIBE to my Monthly Newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to the Blog via Email or your Kindle. LIKE me on Facebook.
