As shadows are cast upon us, first by the adults in our childhoods, in our communities, and through the ages, we are frightened. Who would know how to approach the shadow of the chameleon in the photo below, if the shadow is all we could see? But once we know it is nothing in itself, only the misshaped form a lizard, we know how to respond.
Evil, like the shadow of the lizard, may appear to be something other than what it is, requiring us to work hard to identify this distortion of life, or God-given relationships. Once named though, we can begin to logically assess our next step.
How have you worked to make sense of the distortions in your relationships? What have you learned to name? Has that work energized you to make changes?
photo credit: National Geographic June 2011