Welcome to The Wildroot Parables weekly discussions! This is where we can come together as a community and have real talk with one another: open, honest, gracious, and curious.
This is YOUR space to discuss with each other, not just engage with me! Because of this, SAFE SHARING is my highest priority. If you are not engaging safely and with grace with others, you will have to leave. Period.
Thank you for entering this space with care!
On Monday, our devotional focused on the stories of Saint Sebastian and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, two men separated by centuries yet both deeply faithful and eventually martyred for their respective causes. In our devotional, we explored how the most famous aspects of their stories were *not* the be-all-end-all for either of them. They were complex, and in challenging the status quo of their cultural lifetimes they faced great pain.
Today, our question is: what structures are you feeling called to challenge in your life, community, or wider world? And what barriers do you experience—internal or external—toward faithfully following that calling?
(Note: This is a tough question, so go easy on yourself in the answering! None of us is perfect. We are all complex, all facing our own struggles. Lift one another up; it takes courage to admit where we feel that we fall short.)
This is tricky because I don't want to in any way equate my struggles with either of the two figures you mention here. Having established that...It's become a cultural norm to draw very bold "morality lines" that divide us into strict ideological camps. While I understand standing for principles and strongly believing in things, I think there is a pervasive lack of intellectual humility about our own knowledge and beliefs. I happen to live in a region where my beliefs about a lot of things stand in stark contrast to those of my neighbors. It has been revelatory to have to reconcile those differences with the fact that many people with whom I share virtually no essential beliefs about life are actually fine and gracious people. It's really hard to navigate that dissonance sometimes, but it's very good for my soul, I think. So to briefly answer the question, I guess I'd say that I'm trying to challenge a mechanical kind of moralism that our world (driven by social media) encourages.
Oops! I could have added "impatience" to my obstacles in life. I didn't see my comment appear in the micro-second I tend to allow before punching a key again. Sorry!
This challenge from S. E. Reid is the most direct and specific, but Carol Mossa and
YouTopian Journey
By YouTopian Journey
also challenged my “courage” this week.
In my *Life*, I have been Called to help repair the damage done to my daughter’s self-esteem and qualityof life during 40 years of abuse by methamphetamine and a lifelong series of emotionally and physically abusive relationships.
In my *Community*, I am Called to return to doing my small part to hold back the Drug Apocalypse flooding the nation and my hometown for the last 30 years.
In the *World*, I am Called to publish my many thoughts, written over the years, about the connection between the reptilian brain, so necessary for our basic individual survival, but so destructive when an individual’s addiction to the pursuit of the false promises of substances or personal wealth and power, hijacks logic and empathy and results in misery for the individual or the rest of humanity.
Internal barriers include the “fear* of failure, leading to an unrealistic pursuit of an impossible level of perfection.
External barriers include recent heart attacks and a stroke that has impaired my vision, leaving me peering at the world, as if through a small crack in the door.
Causes for optimism include the long-delayed epiphany that I do not have forever to download a lifetime of lessons learned on my “Drunkard’s Walk” through the minefields of life.
This challenge from S. E. Reid is the most direct and specific, but Carol Mossa and
YouTopian Journey
By YouTopian Journey
also challenged my “courage” this week.
In my *Life*, I have been Called to help repair the damage done to my daughter’s self-esteem and quality of life during 40 years of abuse by methamphetamine and a lifelong series of emotionally and physically abusive relationships.
In my *Community*, I am Called to return to doing my small part to hold back the Drug Apocalypse flooding the nation and my hometown for the last 30 years.
In the *World*, I am Called to publish my many thoughts, written over the years, about the connection between the reptilian brain, so necessary for our basic individual survival, but so destructive when an individual’s addiction to the pursuit of the false promises of substances or personal wealth and power, hijacks logic and empathy and results in misery for the individual or the rest of humanity.
Internal barriers include the “fear* of failure, leading to an unrealistic pursuit of an impossible level of (for me) perfection.
External barriers include recent heart attacks and a stroke that has impaired my vision, leaving me peering at the world, as if through a small crack in the door.
Causes for optimism include the long-delayed epiphany that I do not have forever to download a lifetime of lessons learned on my “Drunkard’s Walk” through the minefields of life.
I have come to the conclusion, that I am quite the coward. Over the past few years, I have watched as people took a stand for what they believe to be right and worthy, and lose reputation, money even freedom because of it. And I found myself caught between the desire to advocate for change, but not being willing to pay the possible price that comes with it. Yes, I have a family to think about as well, but deep down, their immediate safety and comfort became more important to me than the possibility of greater change.
I do believe however, that my calling to be the mother I am supposed to be, the wife, the friend and helper can make a difference in one person´s life, and that is what I will continuously commit myself to.
This is tricky because I don't want to in any way equate my struggles with either of the two figures you mention here. Having established that...It's become a cultural norm to draw very bold "morality lines" that divide us into strict ideological camps. While I understand standing for principles and strongly believing in things, I think there is a pervasive lack of intellectual humility about our own knowledge and beliefs. I happen to live in a region where my beliefs about a lot of things stand in stark contrast to those of my neighbors. It has been revelatory to have to reconcile those differences with the fact that many people with whom I share virtually no essential beliefs about life are actually fine and gracious people. It's really hard to navigate that dissonance sometimes, but it's very good for my soul, I think. So to briefly answer the question, I guess I'd say that I'm trying to challenge a mechanical kind of moralism that our world (driven by social media) encourages.
Oops! I could have added "impatience" to my obstacles in life. I didn't see my comment appear in the micro-second I tend to allow before punching a key again. Sorry!
This challenge from S. E. Reid is the most direct and specific, but Carol Mossa and
YouTopian Journey
By YouTopian Journey
also challenged my “courage” this week.
In my *Life*, I have been Called to help repair the damage done to my daughter’s self-esteem and qualityof life during 40 years of abuse by methamphetamine and a lifelong series of emotionally and physically abusive relationships.
In my *Community*, I am Called to return to doing my small part to hold back the Drug Apocalypse flooding the nation and my hometown for the last 30 years.
In the *World*, I am Called to publish my many thoughts, written over the years, about the connection between the reptilian brain, so necessary for our basic individual survival, but so destructive when an individual’s addiction to the pursuit of the false promises of substances or personal wealth and power, hijacks logic and empathy and results in misery for the individual or the rest of humanity.
Internal barriers include the “fear* of failure, leading to an unrealistic pursuit of an impossible level of perfection.
External barriers include recent heart attacks and a stroke that has impaired my vision, leaving me peering at the world, as if through a small crack in the door.
Causes for optimism include the long-delayed epiphany that I do not have forever to download a lifetime of lessons learned on my “Drunkard’s Walk” through the minefields of life.
This challenge from S. E. Reid is the most direct and specific, but Carol Mossa and
YouTopian Journey
By YouTopian Journey
also challenged my “courage” this week.
In my *Life*, I have been Called to help repair the damage done to my daughter’s self-esteem and quality of life during 40 years of abuse by methamphetamine and a lifelong series of emotionally and physically abusive relationships.
In my *Community*, I am Called to return to doing my small part to hold back the Drug Apocalypse flooding the nation and my hometown for the last 30 years.
In the *World*, I am Called to publish my many thoughts, written over the years, about the connection between the reptilian brain, so necessary for our basic individual survival, but so destructive when an individual’s addiction to the pursuit of the false promises of substances or personal wealth and power, hijacks logic and empathy and results in misery for the individual or the rest of humanity.
Internal barriers include the “fear* of failure, leading to an unrealistic pursuit of an impossible level of (for me) perfection.
External barriers include recent heart attacks and a stroke that has impaired my vision, leaving me peering at the world, as if through a small crack in the door.
Causes for optimism include the long-delayed epiphany that I do not have forever to download a lifetime of lessons learned on my “Drunkard’s Walk” through the minefields of life.
I have come to the conclusion, that I am quite the coward. Over the past few years, I have watched as people took a stand for what they believe to be right and worthy, and lose reputation, money even freedom because of it. And I found myself caught between the desire to advocate for change, but not being willing to pay the possible price that comes with it. Yes, I have a family to think about as well, but deep down, their immediate safety and comfort became more important to me than the possibility of greater change.
I do believe however, that my calling to be the mother I am supposed to be, the wife, the friend and helper can make a difference in one person´s life, and that is what I will continuously commit myself to.