In Healing the Purpose of Your Life, by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant and Matthew Linn, Matthew discusses the purpose of his life on page 65, which is to make things whole. This purpose had often been distorted into a perfectionistic drive. When he was willing to make mistakes speaking Spanish in his work as a retreat leader, the Spanish-speaking community's love healed the hurt underlying his perfectionism, which came from not feeling loved as a child when he didn't do things right.
This morning, as I read that paragraph, I thought of my own calling and how a distorted version of it had shown up in my life, too. My calling is to bring clarifying peace to disorder. When I am mute, letting a bully run over me or those near me, and also when I respond only with alarm, without strength, my life's purpose is distorted. My healing has been occurring over the past ten years. The hurt underlying my non- or over-reaction came from experiences that overwhelmed me as a child. Identifying and spending time in communities that work hard to talk about life as it comes, to tell the truth, have supported me along the Way. I have found so much to delight in as I move in a healing direction.
This morning, as I read that paragraph, I thought of my own calling and how a distorted version of it had shown up in my life, too. My calling is to bring clarifying peace to disorder. When I am mute, letting a bully run over me or those near me, and also when I respond only with alarm, without strength, my life's purpose is distorted. My healing has been occurring over the past ten years. The hurt underlying my non- or over-reaction came from experiences that overwhelmed me as a child. Identifying and spending time in communities that work hard to talk about life as it comes, to tell the truth, have supported me along the Way. I have found so much to delight in as I move in a healing direction.
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