Charles and I go back over a decade now. In colleagueship. In friendship. His pottery, his writing, his cooking, his spiritual direction and his professional fundraising are all phenomenal. As is his journey in which he shares choices of a little yes here and and a little no there that have created pattern.
He writes recently of formation, an excerpt of which is below.
A wise person recently said to me “You frequently (not always) make poor choices in friends and then you seem shocked when they trick and betray you.” I was stunned. “How do you know this?” I asked with growing internal indignation. She smiled and said, “It is a story that keeps repeating itself in your life.” To which I responded, “I need to choose better friends in future.”
She smiled and said “Perhaps. Or you may simply wish to keep listening to the suffering in your life until it has taught you what you need to know.”
…
That which visits us as we suffer seeks not to do battle. That which visits us as we suffer seeks to be heard.
It’s enough to sit with today. For me, to welcome that which disturbs me, with quite noticeable pattern, perhaps calling not for resistance, but rather, to be heard.
Thx Charles.