Many years ago, at the very beginning of my life as a religious sister, an old nun welcomed me and wished me "perseverance." Perseverance! Why would I want that? Anger flared up in me at the mention of the word, because at the time it felt like she was welcoming me to a life of suffering, and hoping that I would stick with it. But, I was choosing religious life because I felt loved by God, was convinced of God's love for all, and wanted to share that with others in a life of joy and service. Why would I choose a way of life for which I would need perseverance? "All you need is love!"
Write a book and learn what perseverance really is! My doctoral dissertation is teaching me a lot about it. Perseverance is all about process and sticking with it. I remember helping teens prepare for Confirmation, years ago. We used various symbols to learn about the gifts and fruits of the Spirit (virtues or positive human qualities). Faithfulness was symbolized by chewing gum, to remind us of the tasty human quality of "stick-with-it-ness!"
There are many ways to learn about and develop one's capacity to stick-with-it, which includes love AND perseverance. Both-And. Writing a book is one way to live and learn how to love and persevere with something. In current lingo, we call it the ability to stay in the process. Not only is writing a book a good way to actually live in process, it can help us understand a lot in general about the both-and of life.
Narrative, in particular, helps us to understand our actual living and learning about the both-and of life. I haven't yet written anything about why I've called this blog, "Sombreness Sunlit: The Both-And of Life." My next few entries will be about this topic."
Write a book and learn what perseverance really is! My doctoral dissertation is teaching me a lot about it. Perseverance is all about process and sticking with it. I remember helping teens prepare for Confirmation, years ago. We used various symbols to learn about the gifts and fruits of the Spirit (virtues or positive human qualities). Faithfulness was symbolized by chewing gum, to remind us of the tasty human quality of "stick-with-it-ness!"
There are many ways to learn about and develop one's capacity to stick-with-it, which includes love AND perseverance. Both-And. Writing a book is one way to live and learn how to love and persevere with something. In current lingo, we call it the ability to stay in the process. Not only is writing a book a good way to actually live in process, it can help us understand a lot in general about the both-and of life.
Narrative, in particular, helps us to understand our actual living and learning about the both-and of life. I haven't yet written anything about why I've called this blog, "Sombreness Sunlit: The Both-And of Life." My next few entries will be about this topic."
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