Scripps Sunday - Alaska Edition #9

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"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God, lacks nothing. God alone suffices." -Teresa of Avila

"I've been borrowing these words during this season, aware of some of the conflicting emotion that it brings up in me. Let nothing disturb you. Really? So much disturbs me. And in fact, I think being disturbed is an important reality. It's what motivates us to make a change, to advocate, to speak up, to use our voice. Being disturbed is not a sin or something to avoid. The survival of the marginalized depends on those in seats of power and influence being disturbed. So I've decided that this definition of being disturbed can't be what she meant. It must mean something different. And so in the saying of it, in the praying of it, I'm opening to what it might mean to let nothing disturb me.

Maybe it means let nothing take you so far out of yourself that you're unable to show up as yourself. I think that might be closer to it. I think there's a lot more there. I could probably do a reflection about every line of this quote, but for now, I'll just share it again to close us out. "Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God, lacks nothing. God alone suffices." May it be so in us and around us as we do our next right thing in love.

-Emily P. Freeman 355: What’s Saving My Winter Life - Emily P. Freeman

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