Friday Five:Overcoming

Sally, over at RevGals, offers this Friday Five;

Today is the Feast day of St Mary Magdalene, and as I've been pondering her life, and the inspiration she is I find in her a wonderful mix of struggle and devotion. She is both the woman who needed a deep healing and the woman who was declared (by many) to be the first amongst the apostles. She inspires me by the way she overcame so much to become so much. When I stop to think about the folk who do inspire me they are almost always overcomer's in some way or another.

With that in mind I bring you this Friday Five; List five people who inspire you to dare to step out into becoming more: Bonus question, a song or fictional character that inspires you to move beyond boundaries!

1. From a young age I had an active prayer life, and through that a relationship with God. Like any relationship, my relationship with God has had it's challenges. I suppose I have been a challenge for God, too....although God never mentions that. I have learned to trust in God's goodness and God's desire for my life (our lives) to be good, healthy. I have learned to be patient, and to have compassion, even when all the circumstances of life could justify a more angry and bitter response. I have learned to hold tenderly my sorrow and grief but to not wallow to deeply in despair. I have experienced resurrection, new life, in surprising and unexpected ways. I think that my formation as a human being would have been very different if I did not believe in God and if I had not, do not, intentionally work on my relationship with God.

2. My husband. He supports me in becoming the best version of myself that I can be. I trust his feedback, and I know he has my back. This was not always apparent. We have done some hard work in our 26 years, but from that we have both grown.

3. My children. I did not have good role models for parenting. I made a lot of mistakes in raising my kids, but for the most part they had even handed loving parents. Parenting pushed me into learning and growing and working hard at understanding my "stuff" so I could do better for my children.

4. Linda, a priest who mentored me when I was learning about this vocation. She taught me a lot about how to be a priest who is also a woman. I also learned a lot from other priest: Tom, Bob, and Steve, each as different from the other as possible, but formative in deepening my understanding of priesthood.

5. Frances, my mother in law. She is now in the end stages of life, but she was the mom I never had.




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Comments

Sally said…
how great that you are inspired by your mother-in-law :-).
Rev Nancy Fitz said…
Sounds like a theme of growth. Can we ask for more? (Yes, and we do, often all we get is growth, but I have no complaints.)
angela said…
ooh, I identify with what you say about how children always make us want to deal with our parents' stuff so we can be better parents.

And I love what you say about your relationship with God. Can never hear enough about your faith story.
Such a rich list...and prayers for all of you with your MIL.
Crimson Rambler said…
Thank you, friend! Always nourishing and thought-provoking!

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