Rev. Bethany Russell-Lowe
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Excerpt from “Start Close In” by David Whyte
I’ve never been one for New Year's Resolutions. I’d sooner make a dramatic life change on January 2ndsimply for the sake of being nonconformist. Maybe I’m missing out. Or maybe not. I might never know.
I understand the impulse behind New Year’s resolutions. As much as we humans fear change we also know it is necessary. If we can contain change, control it with measurements of time or scale, it makes the change just that little bit easier.
The trouble I see with New Year’s Resolutions is the social pressure to feel we need to make a BIG change, ALL AT ONCE or we have failed. And that...well that just isn’t healthy or true for most of us.
So what if this year you start by taking one movement forward, today. You get to choose how small or big that movement is. Because only you know how big or small that movement will feel. And then tomorrow make another movement. Bigger or smaller this time. Or maybe, you spend day 2 recovering from the impact of day 1's movement. Maybe you turn one way on day 3 you couldn’t see from your perspective on day 1. Day by day, on and on.
What if, this year, you resolve to follow your own path? What if you resolve to find your own health? What if you resolve to follow your own journey to wholeness, dodging that which is preventing you from being you along the way? What if you commit to let one piece of transformation unfold in your life across 2020?
Or maybe, last year was enough. And this is the year when you rest your body, stretch your change muscles, and get ready for 2021.
The beauty is you choose. It’s your path. Your transformation. Your rest.
David Whyte’s poem, excerpted from above this article, is a good start if you’re feeling stuck. You can read the full poem
here.
Happy new year, beloveds. What ever this new year brings you, or whatever you bring to it, we’re here for you always.
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SAVE THE DATE – Healthy Congregations Workshop on March 21st
Interested in investing in the long-term relational health of our congregation? Save the Date for our Healthy Congregations Workshop on Saturday, March 21st. More details forthcoming. (See more below)
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