(are the stories others need to hear)
By Traci Hubbard
2nd Corinthians 12:9
Let me begin by saying Literalists believe the story of The Ugly Duckling is about a duck. You’ll will understand this better in a few minutes.
Sometimes the words we offer to another person become a catalyst that sets them on a different path that changes their life for the better.
39 years ago, I was at my kitchen table working on a bible study for a group of 40 women. I was pregnant with Amy, and Sarah was two years old. While I studied, Sarah was napping. The text I was pouring over was James 1:4 – chapter 2. (read certain pieces of this text)
As I studied, my heart began to pound…my breathing became difficult…I could not shake the fear that I would never be able to love another child the way that I loved Sarah. I was scared. While friends and family constantly affirmed my motherhood, I had little, if any faith at all, that I could love and mother the child moving inside me with my whole heart because Sarah already had my whole heart, what was left to give another child. I felt like what Sarah, and I shared was perfect, so all that would be left to give my new child would be leftovers…my imperfections. I prayed for faith to believe I was enough…that I had enough wonderful love to give both of my children.
My inner dialogue and studying were two hours into pounding me half crazy when, I felt a tug on my shirt. I turned, and Sarah was holding her arms up, saying, “Mommy”. I put Sarah in my lap facing me and she leaned into me and smiled. Then, she took my face into her hands and looked straight into my eyes…my soul, and in a very calm and confident voice, she said, “God is one. God is one. God is one. God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. God loves me. God loves me. God loves me. I love you. I love you. I love you.” Then she smiled like she had just given me a gift, and jumped out of my lack and asked for a snack.
I was stunned. While Sarah sat on the couch dipping her apple slices in peanut butter, I was wiping silent tears away. Mystery – God – the Spirit had proved her presence beyond a shadow of a doubt by speaking through Sarah as she quoted the text I was studying. That moment changed my life and set my spiritual journey on a path where I could not only accept my human imperfections, but I could find the gifts in them and allow them to teach me, nurture me, and transform me into love. I felt like an ugly duckling, when all the while, I was a swan.
The Holy works through the least of these, the perceived weakest, to change the world one story, one conversation, one step in faith and action at a time to help us connect with ourselves and others. To help us share our stories to comfort others the way we have been comforted, to give us and those we share with courage to begin again, and to form a community bound together by faith.
Stories connect people. Stories Give others courage
Stories give others comfort. Stories build community.
Remember the stories of Mystery working through:
· Abraham -Was old.
· Elijah – Was suicidal.
· Joseph – Was abused.
· Job – Went bankrupt.
· Moses – Had a speech problem.
· Samson – Was a womanizer.
· Rahab – Was a prostitute.
· Gideon – Was afraid.
Gideon’s story: He called the unqualified like Gideon. Gideon even says he came from the weakest clan in Manasseh. Yet, when God calls him, He calls him a man of valor (Judges 6:12). Gideon is called to fight the Midianites. God chose Gideon, who was a coward, to lead his army. Gideon didn't have the courage for the job, so he had no choice but to depend on God.
Psychologist and New York Times best selling author, Brene Brown writes, “Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.”
Rephrase: “To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace.” Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Father Richard Rohr writes:
In different ways, we humans falsely divide the world into the pure and impure, the totally good and the totally bad, the perfect and imperfect. It begins with dualistic thinking and then never manages to get beyond it. Such a total split or clean division is never true in actual experience. We all know that reality is a lot more mixed and “disordered” than that; so, in order to continue to see things in such a false and binary way, we really have to close down. That is the hallmark of immature spirituality. It demands denial, splitting, and mental pretense. It moves from the first false assumption of purity or perfection toward an entire ethical code, a priesthood of some sort, and various rituals and taboos that keep us on the side of the seeming pure, positive, or perfect—as if that were even possible.
I mean this next point kindly: Organized religion is almost structurally certain to create hypocrites (the word literally means “actors”), those who try to appear to be pure and good, or at least better than others. Jesus uses the word at least ten times in Matthew’s Gospel alone! We are unconsciously trained to want to look good, to seek moral high ground, and to point out the “speck” in other people’s eyes while ignoring the “log” in our own (Matthew 7:3–5). None of us lives up to all our spoken ideals, but we have to pretend we do in order to feel good about ourselves and to get others of our chosen group to respect us. This section is Father Richard Rohr
We have to learn who we are – discover the gifts in our imperfections and the gifts of our dark nights so we can live into our purposes and in community
II Cor. 11:30 -12:10 (context) Paul’s thorn?
12 It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3 And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep[a] me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.[b] 8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power[c] is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
In his book, The Ride of a Lifetime, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, writes about his personal experience and leadership in acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, ABC, Lucas Film, and 20th Century Fox. Bob continues to lead innovation and imagination with unprecedented success around the world. Disney set the bar for innovation and imagination with a whole lot of heart by not accepting mediocrity and striving for excellence while never giving up and learning from failures. Bob shares with Oprah on Super Bowl Sunday, no one wants to be led by a pessimist. People were always asking him advice on how to lead, and publicists were begging him to write a book. Bob’s energy is calm, cool, and fearless, and Oprah was surprised to discover that his book contained so much personal information around his experiences. She said, “In your book, you allowed us into who you are. Was this hard at first?” He replied, “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be once I concluded that to write a good book or tell a good story it has to come from within, from the writer’s/speaker’s heart> To tell the story I wanted to tell and to teach what I wanted to teach to others, I has to be completely open and generous with what was within me.”
Folks, we are living our lives for a reason – and this reason is for deep and meaningful connection with ourselves, others, and our world. We exist to learn how to become love and to share how our experiences have taught us, changed us, transformed us, deepened our understanding of the presence of the Sacred with and within us, and how everything we have experienced has brought us to this moment. Our stories are full of hope, comfort, resilience, perseverance, love, and loss, gratitude, and fortitude. Our stories are stories of faith in living and becoming more. And oh, my soul, people need to hear our stories, not because we are great, but because the Holy is real and is good, and we have never been alone.
One evening, I read the book The Velveteen Rabbit to my girls and gave them a stuffed Velveteen Rabbit to share. Later that week, I could hear my girls fighting in the next room. I went in to investigate what was going on to discover the poor rabbit being pulled back and forth by the girls, each holding on to one of his arms. “He’s mine, no he’s mine” was breaking the sound barrier. I said, “Girls STOP! Don’t you remember the heart of the Velveteen Rabbit’s story?” They are looking at me with puppy dog eyes, the poor rabbit now lying on the floor. “Don’t you remember? We are here to share with others.” Without missing a beat, Amy crossed her arms and said, “So what are the others here for?”
That’s another sermon, but oh my soul, I love that girl, now a woman, with my whole heart – just as much as I love Sarah. God’s grace is sufficient for me, and it is sufficient for all of you too. So, go share your stories, even boast in your weaknesses, because the truth is, God’s love and strength are perfected in us when we listen, learn grow, share, and connect. Each one of us have stories that others are dying to know. One of my stories is, God is one, and love wins the day, and it all begins by considering everything as joy. Sharing the gifts we discover in our imperfections is life saving. Remember that you are a swan, so, go be a swan. May it be so, amen.
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