Talk of Dreams
Earlier this week, S was asked about her vocational dreams: What is your passion? (Asked by Uncle J, our host and excellent listener.)
It’s fair to say — and this sentence has been pre-approved — that S does not have a clear answer to that question.
I’m able to answer that question in more concrete ways — but it’s also fair to say that S and I entered this year-long journey with a bit of anxiety about ENDING the journey with clarity on big questions like What is our passion?, Who are we?, and What are we called to do?
The pictures above were taken at sunset atop the ancient city of Lystra. It’s the place once frequented by Saint Paul and Barnabas. Saint Paul was nearly stoned to death there, and it’s also the place where he met a young man named Timothy whom he would eventually train and encourage in ministry and life.
Today, nothing remains of Lystra. It is a mound of dirt and grass, overlooking a mountain-ringed valley cut eons ago by glaciers.
Still … it is a profound thing to walk in the footsteps of Saint Paul and his companions who were once on a journey of their own, and I’m reminded that Paul never really knew ALL the details of his journey’s path. (He was intensely aware, however, of his destination.)
Over the course of our journey so far, S and I have largely let go of our anxiety about having clear answers to big questions. In fact, we’ve slowed in ASKING the big questions about Tomorrow — to ourselves, and to our Guide.
I welcome this odd by-product of our traveling. And I welcome the NEW — and, perhaps, more profound — questions that come now instead.
A friend just emailed this, written by Rainer Maria Rilke in “1903 in Letters to a Young Poet”: “…I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
This is a perfect message for this time of year, and for this time of life. I love “The point is to live everything. Live the questions now.”
Really lovely. Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful quote.
Very insightful and deep. Few people take the time to be at peace with not having a clear destination. Thank you for sharing your wisdom on this.
I read an interview with Elie Wiesel recently where he was asked to define who he was. His response was that only at his last breath could that question be answered. He said that he defines himself more by his questions than by his answers because as he says “answers come and go…” I’m glad you’re letting go of some of the anxiety! Miss you guys!!