Growing Faith // Finding Direction

‘You can be anything’, they tell us.

‘You have the world ahead of you’, they tell us.

Life is there to be lived. It’s Big, Daunting, Exciting, Open… And there is nothing more thrilling (or chilling) than trying to imagine how our lives might pan out, or how we might go about sculpting them in the ways we want. One of the biggest questions that faces young people today, and especially young people of faith, is how do we spend the days we have been given. Paul tells us: [We] can do all things through Christ, because He gives [us] strength” (Phil 4:13).

The possibilities are endless, and exciting. But with each step I do take, I find myself remembering the steps I didn’t take. Believing we can do or be anything can be paralysing if, because of our fear, we hesitate to act.

Here in Weston, we have decided to commit to a particular way of living, which comes from the second of our Faith Commitments:

“A calling, found in the gospels, to a stance of simplicity, vulnerability,  powerlessness and humility, towards the service of God and Others”

In reality, we’re still struggling to discern what this means – this is who we want to be. But what does it really mean to live simply, to be vulnerable, or to choose powerlessness? You’ve already read about our struggles with money, with our attempts to share life together, or our steps towards hospitality and child-like play. And so we continue to press into this calling, believing with all our energies, that it is possible – finding our potential through our faith in God.

But what of those young people that struggle to find direction, or have not believed they can fly… In the past few weeks we have visited a variety of professionals from the local area to hear their voice about local people – and what stands out, for me at least, is that some (if not many) young people growing up on the Bournville have very low life aspirations.

They have no expectation that they will do, or be, anything different from what they are now. They have no concept of being or becoming a doctor, a postman, a politician… for some, they have never visited the beach just around the corner, and others have never been out of Weston. The context in which children grow up here seems insurmountable.

In the local park we have a roundabout/see-saw which is almighty fun – and this week, I met a young person who had never been on it. No one had ever put him on it, nor offered to push. It was a poignant moment as he shrieked with laughter, and shouted more, more…

The challenge, as I struggle to find and negotiate the direction I have chosen and been called to follow in my life, is to struggle also with how I help others take the first steps on discovering their direction, supporting them over the fear of where to act. I leave you with the inspirational words of Marrianne Williamson which I hope will spur you on in your own way (A return to love, 1992):

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

J Wheatley