Let Your Life Speak

I've been reading a really cool book (recommended by my sister) called Let Your Life Speak, by Parker J. Palmer. It's short but good - very interesting insights into vocation. I would've liked to get ahold of this book a few years ago! But Palmer also makes clear that living your vocation is a life-long process involving ongoing change. Here's one of my favorite portions:

If I were ever to discover a new direction, I thought, it would be at Pendle Hill, a community rooted in prayer, study, and a vision of human possibility. But when I arrived and started sharing my vocational quandary, people responded with a traditional Quaker counsel that, despite their good intentions, left me even more discouraged. "Have faith," they said, "and way will open"...After a few months of deepening frustration, I took my troubles to an older Quaker woman well known for her thoughtfulness and candor. "Ruth," I said, "people keep telling me that 'way will open.' Well, I sit in the silence, I pray, I listen for my calling, but way is not opening. I've been trying to find my vocation for a long time, and I still don't have the foggiest idea of what I'm meant to do. Way may open for other people, but it's sure not opening for me."
   
Ruth's reply was a model of Quaker plain-speaking. "I'm a birthright Friend," she said somberly, "and in sixty-plus years of living, way has never opened in front of me." She paused, and I started sinking into despair. Was this wise woman telling me that the Quaker concept of God's guidance was a hoax?
   
Then she spoke again, this time with a grin. "But a lot of way has closed behind me, and that's had the same guiding effect."

Hee. Can you relate?

Comments

[kimj]

(Hmmm. Seems connected to the "looking backward" theme somehow) Great quote, Gen. -- If I had a dollar every time I attempted to go back when forward didn't seem well lit, (and found the door closed and locked...)well you know -- I'd actually have money...

[erickeck]

can really relate

[Birgit]

Yupp - I can relate just fine...