Good Questions

Sometimes, when we look first at the things we are not, our field of view narrows, and what remains begins to shine more clearly.

Are we not petty, prideful, self-centered, destructive, even sabotaging ourselves?

And are we not also full of love, of life, of sorrow, of happiness, of joy?

An honest emotional inventory, with only yourself and God as witness and mediator, is one of the best gifts you can give your soul. It requires the courage to admit, with brutal honesty, that we are capable of great evil, both accidental and intentional.

Truth should stir us. It should not send us running for the hills.

A real Truth makes us sit a little smaller, recognizing in ourselves our own failures, or perhaps the successes of a brother or sister. A good question is often the starting point of that uncomfortable truth. And to find both, we must be willing to sit in silence with ourselves and with God. To be bare before Him, to let Him direct, while we reflect.

By wrestling with questions both vast and ordinary, paradox and practicality side by side, we learn to wrestle with our greatest adversary: the self.

So before we dig into questions, I ask you this:

By whose measure do you weigh yourself?

Who are you trying to be when you put on the mask you wear?

And who gave you that measure in the first place?

If you are like me, you may find that the measure you use was placed on you long before you chose it; formed by the unconscious patterns of childhood, etched into your soul without your permission. But pattern recognition only helps when we dare to hold the mirror to ourselves. Otherwise, we repeat the same cycles endlessly.

So let us begin with questions:

• Who is my brother, my sister, my mother, my father?

• Where does forgiveness end and bitterness begin?

• How do we forget what we have forgiven?

• How do we forgive what we cannot forget?

• What does our heart’s desire say about who we truly are?

• Where does action become affirmation through acceptance?

These are not questions with simple answers. Each soul must wrestle with them differently. But as always, I pray for you and with you — that you know you are Loved.