The following spoke to me in my current situation:
In the spiritual life, less is more. Not only do we have cluttered closets, but we have cluttered schedules and cluttered thoughts, resulting in cluttered spirits. Experts tell us that there is often a correlation between outer clutter and inner confusion. Our recurrent refrain, “I am SOOOO busy,” sometimes indicates that the events of our lives pile endlessly upon themselves until the whole wonderful experience of being alive melts into one enormous obligation. To be honest, we proclaim our “busyness” to one another with some hidden degree of pride, as if our exhaustion were a trophy and our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. To whiz through our obligations without time for a single moment of mindfulness has become the model of a successful life in our culture. At some unspoken level, we think it makes us seem more important to others and, subsequently, to ourselves.
There's a slippery slope that trips us up, and it's called Produce and Possess. This leads us ever so surely to a place where what we do and how that looks to people seems more important than who we ARE. So we begin to focus on exterior behavior instead of inner integrity. Nothing given from the outside can bring joy; it may bring pleasure, but not joy. Joy is inner-directed.
--Linda Douty
from the essay “Am I On The Right Path?” at explorefaith.org.
I've come to a new understanding of this while at General Conference. So many moments and people have touched me in a new way and helped me to begin to see things in a fresh light. “Nothing given from the outside can bring joy... joy is inner-directed.”
More on this another time perhaps.
This 16 year old Tennessee boy came out to his parents in May. For his efforts he was sent packing to a fundamentalist's answer to Guantanamo Bay, called the