In this chapter, I find myself agreeing with Charleston as he points to three different but complementary acts of faith: (1) faith that the light that exists, even if we can’t see it, (2) faith that the Spirit is climbing with us toward the light, and (3) faith in our own ability to help others as we climb, even if it seems to us that we’re only doing small things.
I’m reminded of the many times that a smile from a barista or a friendly hello from a colleague helped me to feel less anxious and alone. I’ll try to be that little light to other people this week, perhaps by smiling, and listening, and seeming unhurried – by offering people space to be themselves.
I’d love to know how you bring light.
As I reread this chapter I was once again struck by sentences:
"The light we climb to is the light of common sense." (p.18) - It reminds me that the spirit is not calling me to be anything extraordinary but just sensible. I have the capacity to climb up to "common sense" even on the toughest of days.
"Peace is not free; it comes at the price of entitlement and privilege." (p18)- How do we use our privilege to help other climb out of the kiva and into the light?
Later in the chapter, just as my guilt for not doing enough with entitlement was pushing down on me. The climb is put back in perspective on p. 23. "While we are empowered to do more than we can imagine, we are not called to do more than we can." I am thankful that the spirit understands our limits. This was a point of contrast for me. We are called to work for freedom but not to the point of losing ourselves.
The manta on p. 34 is a sticky note added to the many on my bathroom mirror.
"Don't look down, don't look back, don't look away. Look up and be confident."