"The final stage of birthing labour is the most dangerous stage, and the most painful. . . . The medical term is “transition.” Transition feels like dying but it is the stage that precedes the birth of new life. After my labour, I began to think about transition as a metaphor for the most difficult fiery moments in our lives. In all our various creative labours —making a living, raising a family, building a nation—there are moments that are so painful, we want to give up. But inside searing pain and encroaching numbness, we might also find the depths of our courage, hear our deepest wisdom, and transition to the other side. . . .
“We can learn to mother ourselves!” Audre Lorde [1934–1992] once declared. [1] So I decided to practice listening to the Wise Woman in me. I got a simple blank journal, carried it with me, and wrote in it every day . . . and simply let her speak. . . . Listening to her voice, literally every few hours, is how I began to practice loving myself. Here’s what I discovered about Wise Woman: Her voice is quiet. . . . I have to get really quiet in order to hear her. How do I know when I am hearing her voice? She is tender and truthful. She is not afraid of anything or anyone. She does not give me all the answers, but she does know what I need to do in this moment—to wonder, grieve, fight, rage, listen, reimagine, breathe, or push. She helps me show up to the labour as my best self.
I believe that deep wisdom resides within each of us. Some call this voice by different sacred names—Spirit, God, Jesus, Allah, Om, Buddha-nature, Waheguru. Others think of this voice as the intuition one hears when in a calm state of mind. . . . Whatever name we choose, listening to our deepest wisdom requires disciplined practice. The loudest voices in the world right now are ones running on the energy of fear, criticism, and cruelty. The voices we spend the most time listening to, in the world and inside our own minds, shape the way we see, how we feel, and what we do. When I spend time listening to people who are speaking from their deepest wisdom, I can feel understanding, inspiration, and energy nourish the root of my own wisdom. But I must not lose myself at the feet of others. My most vigilant spiritual practice is finding the seconds of solitude to get quiet enough to hear the Wise Woman in me."
Author Valarie Kaur is a Sikh activist and civil rights lawyer who writes about social change through the metaphor of childbirth—both acts of “revolutionary love.”
This struck me today and thought it made a powerful item to consider and reflect upon today. It is written from a woman's point of view and using birthing metaphors but is very much for men and women.
Inside our own various pains of life we do discover our own strengths that help us face life and continue. We can be so surprised that we not only manage, but can also at times flourish. When we think we are spent, given all, lost beyond, there in that point we hear God's voice leading on and out. There is within that time, that moment complete resurrection. We as Christians would name that strength 'God' and would add that we are becoming the people that we are called to be both individually and corporately. We all tend to be influenced by the negative around us, rather than hearing that "still small voice," leading us on and beyond. Working alongside a recently bereaved woman, who is badly disabled, she told me she thought - after her husband died - that there was no future for her, except residential care. She has discovered she is stronger than she thought, can achieve more than she ever thought possible and although still grieving, can see a positive future for herself.
Prayer
Almighty God, thank you for living, loving us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all who live around us. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. - greed, destruction, science, neglect and others. Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy name of Christ Our Lord. Amen
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