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Wisdom Story
A child was made of salt. She wanted so much to know where she had come from. So she started on a long journey. She traveled to many lands in pursuit of her identity. She arrived at the shore of a great ocean. "How wonderful!" she cried out, and she put one foot in the water. The ocean called her to step farther in. She heard its Voice, encouraging her, "If you wish to know who you are, fear not." The salt child walked farther and farther into the water, dissolving with each step. At the end she exclaimed, "Wow! Now I know who I really am!"
Wisdom Prayer
Repeatedly, my Love, and lovingly, You draw me to the boundaries of all my thoughts and feelings. Indeed, You do this to free me from my into You. There I find Love, and I find You, for You are the Love that loves. There, our being together in Love, you plunge me into the abyss of luminous night. Yet You do not do this against my will; rather the passage to the boundaries is the means of Your forming within me the "Yes" that says "Yes" to this fortunate fall into nothing and nowhere. Here there is no paradise and no wall of paradise~not for one who tastes this death and arises into this Life. I savor this delectable demise in You, and in not knowing You, I know You. What other knowing would satisfy my heart and dissolve the prideful idols of self-knowledge? How can I know who I truly am unless I find who I truly am only in You who know who I truly am? In knowing You by not knowing You, I know myself. I know today You are Love. Whom I know myself to be, that I hold close, today, apart from words, in Secret between us. Amen.
Suggested Reflection
Does the child in the story lose who she is and become the ocean? Or does the child become the ocean and remain herself also?
What does the above story say to you about who you really are? About how to discover who you really are?
What is the "ocean"? What is the "voice"? Why might we fear moving more deeply into the "ocean"?
What role does trust have in exploring who we really are?
What are some mistaken identities that have defined for you who you thought you were? Where did those identities come from?
How has your spiritual Journey transformed your sense of identity?
Does your family and friends support your transformations in perception of your identity? Does your church or other spiritual group?
What is the relationship between your sense of identity and the attitudes and actions you will choose? How you will view the identity of other persons? How you will treat other persons?
Is there any false identity that you are clinging to and need to relinquish, one that is blocking a richer experience of being and sharing love, joy, and peace?
Whom has God brought into your life, in the past or now, to mirror for you your true identity?
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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