Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 September 2011 21:57:38
Privilege and blessing are not words that tend to occur naturally in my reflections on my life, but they have become very apparent to me recently. I think it may be due to a change of perspective, or perhaps seeing things more clearly than I have for a while (or indeed ever). Whatever the case, here are a couple of things I have realised over the course of the last few days:
1) The job that I do with the colleagues I have is an immense privilege. I get to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves in an organisation where cynicism is the exception rather than the rule. I do not have to 'play the game' and bow in any real degree to outside pressures and agencies. I get to truly be on the side of the marginalised, to help them say the things they would not otherwise get to say. I have known for a while what lights my fire and stirs up my passion, I just did not know it had a name. I am Dith, and I am Advocate! :)
It took me many years to find my own voice, and now I need to get out of the way so that others can find theirs. An advocate is almost like an avatar; what I am and what I want and feel are pretty much immaterial, but the talents and strengths I possess can be loaned to people who do not yet know that their needs and desires are valid and deserve a hearing. I have a roar in my soul and I want it to be heard. Get off of the small people, stop treading on them, treat them with dignity, treat them with respect, for they are PEOPLE!!! We all have the image of God somewhere in our being, no matter how marred, broken or obscured. When anybody devalues another, that is an offence.
I do not fully understand this energy that is coming from somewhere deep within (or beyond) myself, I am not sure if it is here to stay or whether it is passing through, but I know that I like it.
2) The friends that I possess are an incredible blessing. This last few days I have been away from home and reconnected with some very dear friends. Some excellent people of long standing love and loyalty. I have had the privilege (there's that word again) of sharing the sorrows of some and the joys of others. My emotions have been close to the surface recently, which means I have been grieved and angry at the seeming injustice and pointlessness of some of the things that my friends and family have had to endure and, in fact, are still enduring. However, I have also been capable of rejoicing with people more freely too.
Again, this is something I do not understand. I do not know why I am feeling so enriched by drawing the trials and joys of those dear to me deeper into my soul. I have not actively sought this, but I welcome it.
In returning from my few days away, this refreshment has not abated. I look at all of my life with more clarity and contentment. I am more deeply grateful to God for that which I possess than I think I have ever been before. I am privileged to have a husband who I love and who I KNOW loves me. I am blessed with a secure home and a life rich in wonderful people and experiences. By this, I do not mean that I jet off to foreign climes and have vast and intriguing adventures with unique and eccentric beings. Better than that, I am finding the value, the depth, the worth of the daily routines and rhythms that make up my life.
I breathe in privilege
I breathe out blessing
and it is well
it is well
with my soul.
(I believe the key to all of this is that, for the first time ever, I am actually able to accept that I am - in fact - loved! Praise the Lord! ;))