On Authenticity and "No Effort"

Two events come together in serendipitous wonder. I finish Marcus Borg's novel Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith at the same time as I am having numerous conversations with people about living the authentic life - the idea of reading your life - as difficult as that is - to discover where it is calling you. In this light, the novel throws up two beautiful pieces of prose, which I have reproduced or paraphrased below....

The Avowal - by Denise Levertov



As swimmers dare



to lie face to the sky



and water bears them,



as hawks rest upon air



and air sustains them,



so would I learn to attain



freefall, and float



into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,



knowing no effort earns



that all-surrounding grace.

....and a paraphrase form the fantastic Frederick Buechner...

Listen to your life. Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that the divine speaks ...... It is in language that's not always easy to decipher, but it is there, powerfully, memorably, unforgettably.

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