The last two years have been a period I would not gladly repeat but one that stretched me, primed me, challenged me, and prepared me for the next phase of my life, of my vocation and calling.
@IBChowen
In this time, I have discovered lines and boundaries in my life that I could not cross, much to my surprise. I have found that things I have always believed about myself are utterly false. I have re-written parts of my personal narrative, pieces of my childhood and memory, that had seemed insurmountable in their pain, helpless searches for redemption now settled and grounded. Ties have been broken and re-forged, a new structure slowly building from deconstruction.
At the same time, I have deepened in my sense of identity, and gained an ability to see how recent choices have opened a new world. It is as if a blindness has lifted, scales heavy on my eyes dissolved. I see how the person that I have become can be useful in shifting our common conversations. I am someone I would have looked up to as a young woman, and that is humbling and empowering in equal parts.
For many years, I have known that it is possible to tell a story of my life using facts but without much truth to it. This is a fascinating reality, and one I have found to be liberating in a way, for all its false conclusions. I don’t really have any control over any of that, and this has become another place of freedom, that from expectations.
I am who I am. Many things that I thought were true about me –that I need to run for office to have a public voice –that I need institutional affiliation to operate –that I need a doctorate to credential my knowledge –that I need a pulpit to preach simply are not true. And thanks be to God.
@IBChowen
I am who I am. I hold a myriad of concerns and skills, connections and networks, passions and opinions but through it all hold a vision of who and what we can become. Earth and all beings require a new way to live and move and be. A re-examination of value and worth and a moral economy must be applied as we face a breaking and burning world. A personal journey through climate grief, death, lament into rebirth, creation, hope is mirrored in what becomes possible in the world.
I am who I am. And I’d like to know who you are. Because this is the only thing that will save us –knowing each other. Again. Thanks be to God.
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