Journal entry by Joanne Negstad — a minute ago
"My grandmother had always referred to the universe as the Great Mystery.
'What does it mean?' I asked her once.
'It means all things.'
'I don't understand.'
She took my hand and sat down on a rock at the water's edge. 'We need mystery,' she said. 'Creator in her wisdom knew this. Mystery fills us with awe and wonder. They are the foundations of humility, and humility, grandson, is the foundation of all learning. So we do not seek to unravel this. We honor it by letting it be that way forever." Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse, p. 65
A dear friend was frequently called into consult in foreign countries with very different cultures from his own. He rather inelegantly reported that, in those situations, he would self identify as "a dumb shit." From that perspective, he'd invite the people of those cultures to be his teachers. It was a very wise move because, as 'grandmother' said 'humility...is the foundation of all learning.' How true...ever tried explaining something to a 'know it all'?
After, almost eight decades of life, and thirty nine years of congregational ministry I did know something about grief. This knowledge assisted in making some good decisions during Joanne's illness, death and after. However, that knowledge is nothing compared to what I've learned since she died. May I be humble enough to learn what this experience has to teach me. Often I've said there is a world of difference between twenty years of experience and one year of experience repeated twenty times. Humility has never been my strong suit, is it too late to learn?
Blessings,
Al
'What does it mean?' I asked her once.
'It means all things.'
'I don't understand.'
She took my hand and sat down on a rock at the water's edge. 'We need mystery,' she said. 'Creator in her wisdom knew this. Mystery fills us with awe and wonder. They are the foundations of humility, and humility, grandson, is the foundation of all learning. So we do not seek to unravel this. We honor it by letting it be that way forever." Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse, p. 65
A dear friend was frequently called into consult in foreign countries with very different cultures from his own. He rather inelegantly reported that, in those situations, he would self identify as "a dumb shit." From that perspective, he'd invite the people of those cultures to be his teachers. It was a very wise move because, as 'grandmother' said 'humility...is the foundation of all learning.' How true...ever tried explaining something to a 'know it all'?
After, almost eight decades of life, and thirty nine years of congregational ministry I did know something about grief. This knowledge assisted in making some good decisions during Joanne's illness, death and after. However, that knowledge is nothing compared to what I've learned since she died. May I be humble enough to learn what this experience has to teach me. Often I've said there is a world of difference between twenty years of experience and one year of experience repeated twenty times. Humility has never been my strong suit, is it too late to learn?
Blessings,
Al
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