Mahatma Gandhi was a spiritual leader in the 1930s and 40s. A mother approached him with her son begging Gandhi to instruct the child on a particular behavior. When he heard this he walked away and the mother was dismayed by his behavior. Later in the week, Gandhi spotted the mother and her son in the crowd he was speaking with. Gandhi approached the child and instructed him based on what his mother wanted.
The mother said, “Why did you walk away from us earlier in the week after I requested you to counsel my son?
Gandhi said, “I needed to first put into action in my life the very thing you were asking me to say to your son”.
A great saint once said, “Be sure to first preach by the way we live if we do not people will notice us say one thing but live otherwise and our words will only bring cynical laughter and a shake of the head”.
We often fall short of living our lives based on what we say. Whether we are in Recovery or not it takes a lot of work to live a congruent life, meaning our words and actions, with true authenticity. We are all invited to the banquet, those of us with a mental health condition, substance misuse, physically disabled, and others without these challenges. This doesn’t sound like a party crowd does it?
Pope Francis said, “Christian life is not a carnival or party with non-stop happiness”.
Our lives have reality and beauty in terrible moments too. We look at a person with a disability, what do we see? We usually exhibit compassion and pity for a lack of fortune in their lives because it makes them different. The truth is they are us and we are them. We struggle with people different from ourselves, these people challenge us to live more authentically and embrace the common bond we share.
There is so much richness in the theme of this blog. Tomorrow I will write Part 2 of “Coming to the Banquet”. Please come back for more!
SuperHuman Being
Peace
Larry
email: ljw@superhumanbeing.net
website: https://superhumanbeing.net/