Wisdom of Uncertainty
“The pilgrimage towards true self will take time, many years and places.
The world needs people with patience and the passion to make that pilgrimage not only for their own sake but also as a social and political act.
The world still waits for the truth that sets us free—my truth, your truth, our truth—the truth that was seeded in the earth when each of us arrived here formed in the image of God.”
- Parker Palmer, “Let Your Life Speak”
It’s a Sunday afternoon in September. And the Texas autumn is giving, dare I say, “a southern California weather moment.”
On this gorgeous Sunday weather day, the Boy chose Eggo Waffles for self-care. In between bites of syrup-drenched made-ready waffles, the boy opens his journal to pour out his thoughts on not only the last 24 hours but the ten years leading up to this moment. The Boy stands once more at a threshold, that goes beyond his coming of age to something more fully reflective of a 30-something stumbling upon happiness while letting his life unfold and seemingly living out his lofty dreams.
The Boy stands once more at a threshold, that goes beyond his coming of age to something more fully reflective of a 30-something stumbling upon happiness while letting his life unfold and seemingly living out his lofty dreams.
The Boy imagines what the unwritten pages of his life will allow readers and himself the syntax to take away, digest, and revisit as many times as wanted or needed in a lifetime. His life is still quite filled with deep levels of uncertainty as his 22-year-old Self, yet thankfully it seems the wisdom of experience and growth over the last ten years has in a way made the Boy not only more grown-ish but also someone more capable of leaning into uncertainty. Constantly learning the art of letting go of control, whilst accepting the big feelings of built-up and momentary loss of hope. All this illuminates for the Boy, his need and deep longing to resolve a myriad of unspoken internal struggles.
Constantly learning the art of letting go of control, whilst accepting the big feelings of built-up and momentary loss of hope. All this illuminates for the Boy, his need and deep longing to resolve a myriad of unspoken internal struggles.
It is here, the Boy pens a note, “I invite all who accept, a call to listen, to pray, to love, to walk the stairway, and believe that no matter what, it will get better.” Having come off of revisiting a book gifted to him as a high school sophomore, “Let Your Life Speak” by Parker J. Palmer, serves as a safe-keep for the Boy, especially in these much unprecedented times. In Palmer’s book, the reader is called to listen for the voice of “vocation”, the work and life where “our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”
To live this “undivided life”, makes the Boy ponder what that means and could look like for him. As Palmer describes it, “the universal element to guide us in our walk is not the substance of our fight, but the self-hood in which we stand while we fight it.”
For the Boy, to walk his unique journey is to recognize that “every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our hearts desires meet the World’s deepest needs.”
So ultimately, living life as such for the Boy, means “to stand with clarity and courage versus diversion and default.”
For the Boy, to walk his unique journey is to recognize that “every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our hearts desires meet the World’s deepest needs.”
And maybe if there is any wisdom to gain from uncertainty, perhaps the Boy will find “cultivating that truth is the ultimate vocation,” of not only Self, but every human being.
Listen to my full Spotify and Youtube playlist “Wisdom of Uncertainty” below!
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Listen to my full Spotify and Youtube playlist “Wisdom of Uncertainty” below! 〰️
Have a song I should hear? Email me with your suggestion!
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