Wild Beasts
Flinging our negative feelings off a cliff. As I read this section of the book, I was reminded of the kayaking trip I took with the young adults last summer. We went to the Apostle Islands up in Lake Superior. We kayaked out to Sand Island, and after setting up camp, decided to go exploring. We took a hike to the tip of the island where there was a lighthouse. One of the spiritual exercises we did was to hike in silence, looking for an object along the way that represented something that brought us great sorrow, or was weighing on us. When we got to the lighthouse, we threw our objects out into the great lake, representing our letting go of the weight and sadness, of offering our worries to God. Well, I chose a plant stem with three leaves on it representing some of my worries, and I flung the stem into the air towards the water, and the strong wind blew the stem of leaves right back at me - and it stuck to my shirt, right where my heart was. I was more than a little annoyed by this, so I tried again, and a SECOND time, the same thing happened! Here I was trying to fling my sadness away and it just kept blowing right back to my heart. At the time I thought, well, it's probably better to pick something with a little more weight to it if you want it to go out to sea. But perhaps the point was what Sarah seemed to be saying - instead of flinging them away, we are invited during Lent to sit with our emotions and keep company with them for awhile in our hearts. I'd like to hear what you think about Sarah's questions - as we relate to our emotions, who are these creatures? How do we relate to them? Have we tried to kill them? What help or friendship might they offer us? (pg. 24)
- Melanie
- Melanie
posted by Melanie at 1:16 PM
2 Comments:
I was led down a different path in respect to "wild beasts"... I did experience some negative emotions, but I thought more about how God has taken negatives and turned them into positives... Like we blogged the other day, He takes chaos and controls it for us... We don't lose our personalities as Christians, but they are perfected as we take on Christ... Sarah used the term "forms of internal energy"..
I think about how I used to be hurtful in my sarcasm (which I thought was just humor)... I find this happens much less often, now... It had to be "taken down a notch"... Some Christians in my past made me feel like it was wrong to be funny at all... But when Christ is at work, I can tell it's not "guilt tripping"; it's legitimate change for the better!
I can therefore embrace a part of me that I used to feel was "bad" or "out of place" in the Christian community. A "wild beast" that is now tame... There's a synthesis between who I am internally and externally... and that makes me a better person, and a better representative of Christ...
Melanie, your comment about the wind not carrying away your sadness made me recall the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rogers.
Following are the lyrics which deeply touch me.
When you walk through a storm hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of a storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, tho' your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk along, you'll never, ever walk alone. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone, you'll never, ever walk alone.
Wearing my goggles I looked up the lyrics using the search engine Google.
When we are feeling troubled, worried or sad, God doesn't let us suffer alone, He is always with us.
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