Awakening to Wholeness is a series of prompts, reflections, and teachings about how holding the tension of opposites can help us to heal division and experience wholeness. If you feel moved to share your own reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
This is a guest post by EHoP community member Dianne Schlichting, in response to “The Wisdom of Holding Opposites.”
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Empty/Full; Martha/Mary: these are two of the “tensions of opposites” that I see working in my life all of the time. Do you ever find yourself “in over your head?” I do, often. Projects, commitments to serve, responsibilities related to family…I jump in without thinking. At the time, involvement seems like such a good thing. Then, before I know it, I am swamped, in need of a place apart where I can get my act together! For me, daily prayer, first thing in the morning, helps set the tempo and enables me to take a deep breath and discern what God wants me to do, discern what is manageable, yet able to stretch the “involvement muscles.”
Daily examen also helps. Where have I found God working in and through me today? Where have I missed opportunities to be in relationship with God and others? For what am I most grateful, and what will I do tomorrow to live within the pull of these tensions?
Empty? Quiet time and solitude in prayer are “filling stations” for me. Full? Gratitude is my first response, then silence and solitude help me “level out” so I use the grace of fullness in ways that God wants me to use it—to help others. So, too, the Martha/Mary tension: both doing and sitting at Jesus’ feet are parts of the whole; both are necessary. Praying each day for discernment is the surest way I know to keep these tensions in balance.
Finally, I have come to realize that I will likely practice holding these opposites in balance all of my life: transformation takes time, practice, and grace—all in God’s time—as long as I show up.
Join the conversation! If you feel moved to share your reflections—either in response to one of our posts, or on the topic of the wisdom of opposites more broadly—we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
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Dianne Schlichting
Dianne is a member of EHoP; she and her husband John value the opportunity to share contemplative prayer and outreach with others who make the House of Prayer their spiritual home. Dianne is a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves spending time in nature, especially canoeing with John.
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