We transformed the house from the fruits of fall to its Christmas finery. From the muted beauty of pumpkins and deep colors to chaos, which included a "Claus Convention," to twinkling and sparkling beauty.
We hosted a number of gatherings during the week -- our Sunday Supper group, our group from the civil rights tour, my writing group, and finally, a family gathering to meet Baby Bennett, the son of a niece who lives in Omaha.
I spent time at my desk whenever I could, in order to finish preparations for the Advent program on waiting I am leading today and also to think ahead to the adult forum I will lead Sunday about the body and spiritual practice. We even did some Christmas shopping, both online and in local shops and an art fair.
Yes, it was a full week, and that is the way these holiday weeks are. By Saturday evening, as snow began to fall, I was grateful to relax into the snug, a shawl wrapped around my shoulders. How good it felt to ease into the quiet, a departure from the preparations of the previous days and to allow the richness of relationships to rest in my heart.
My preferred way to separate from tasks, however pleasurable they may be, and return to solitude is by opening a book and immersing myself in someone else's world. Page after page. And I had the perfect book in which to do that.
Late afternoon drifted into evening, as I continued reading Michelle Obama's Becoming.
For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or
achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as a forward
motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously
toward a better self. The journey doesn't end...It's all
a process, steps along a path. Becoming requires equal
parts patience and rigor. Becoming is never giving up
on the idea that there's more growing to be done.
It seems to me "becoming" also requires balanced parts of fullness and spaciousness. In this week I have had both.
And as evening became night, I came to the end of Obama's book.
Let's invite one another in. Maybe then we can fear
less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of
the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us.
Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the
same. It's not about being perfect. It's not about where
you get yourself in the end. There's power in allowing
yourself to be known and heard, in owning your
unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there's
grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for
me, is how we become.
This week is another week of fullness, another week of becoming. Breathe and feel the blessings.
An Invitation
What does "becoming" mean to you? I would love to know.
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