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Friday, February 16, 2018

To Whisper Loudly



I can’t remember where I first picked up this quote… probably social media… but I liked it enough that I wrote in on the dry erase board in my office, and then I sort of forgot about it:

“Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’’ – Mary Anne Radmacher

I think I love this quote so much, because I have had a lot of days that have ended like that.  If I’m honest, there have been a few when I would have rather quit.  Some have even been recent.  I haven’t blogged in a month, because it has been difficult to determine which of my scrawlings have been appropriate for public consumption, and as it turns out I have learned a lot about which feelings to vomit and which ones to swallow.  It’s OK.

So, I started this third day of Lent with the daily office, and it wasn’t earth shattering for me.  I noted some things, particularly in the Philippians passage, and I gave a little bit of extra thought to how verses 8 and 9 might be applied:

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you” (NRSV).

It’s not a passage for thrill seekers, but I feel confident that it is a passage for peace seekers.  Do the good stuff you can do!  How different would the world be if we all simply exercised that ability?  I guarantee you it would not fix everything, but it would fix some things.  And I want to be clear, this is neither a cop-out for myself nor a statement to let you off the hook, because I totally get that it sounds cliché.  If either you or I have the power or the passion to do huge things that impact the world, we had better be doing them!  But the small stuff, too… all of it… because if you’ve ever been in a crowded place, you know it gets pretty loud if everybody is whispering.
 
L.  

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