It has recently come to my attention that outward movement, the "doing" of my life, needs attention. In the past I would have secretly cringed at the suggestion that I wasn't active enough or "doing" enough. What I've learned in the past two years is that the inner work of self discovery is as important as what we produce in the world, and without attention to our inner landscape we are building on sand. Or, dare I admit, quicksand as was the case in my own life.
An ancient parable says . . . and let me paraphrase here . . . that a man who builds his house on a solid foundation will not be swept away by rain and wind, but a man who builds his house on sand will be swept away at the first bit of inclement weather. Oh how true!
One of my students is a great example of building a foundation on solid ground. She will be graduating from college in May, and moving into the next phase of her life. Over the past year she has taken a great deal of time figuring out what makes her happy, how she would like her life to look, setting goals for her education, and diligently taking one careful step after another through the process of moving toward these goals. I don't think she would have been able to do these things without her faith and the grounding she has in her inner self. She doesn't claim to have all the answers, but she knows who (and where) she is and what kind of person she wants to become. She inspires the heck out of me!
We all have to do the inner work. So, if you feel like you are building on sand, take more time to figure yourself out. You won't regret the time spent, because the end result - no matter how big your house ends up being in the end - will be of quality. You will be proud of what you are building, and when the wind blows you will feel fortified from the inside out. There is nothing in the world that can substitute for awareness of your inner world, absolutely nothing. Like an education, a house build on solid ground can never be taken away from you or destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment