This blog was prompted by a little trip to Barnes & Noble with my brother. Basically, I got tired of helping him find a birthday present for a girl he really didn't know (all he knew was that she liked indie-rock, vague). As I meandered through the shelves, I picked up a book on Irish culture and opened to a page about "Anam Cara" which means "Soul Friend". According to Celtic spiritual tradition, the soul is illuminated around the body as a glowing aura. A deep bond is made when you open yourself to one another. This transparency and vulnerability creates a relationship that is appreciative and trusting, allowing "two souls to flow together". Your anam cara always "beholds your light" and loves you as you are, as a beautiful mess of raw brokenness. This kind of friendship awakens your fullness, allowing you to engage yourself and the community around you. The Irish believe that when you are blessed with anam cara you have been given a sacred place, you have arrived "home". Beautiful. All I could think about was, "how can we be "home" to people, especially in the fall? Well, we could offer them biscuits and "jam", but I think we have more in mind. Loving people is the hardest thing we are called to do.
Relationship is something that is essential for people to actualize God's New Jerusalem, his beautiful vision of community. Within the first week at Swat I realized that true relationship building was not going to be an easy task due to the engulfing culture of individualism and success. At Swat, everyone is on their own track. It was sad to try to talk to people, but see their eyes focused past your head on their list of things to do on the path to "success". Have you ever heard the phrase, "busyness is the devil's best tool"? Busyness, in my opinion, is the biggest obstacle between me and the people around me. At Swat, our "busyness" is masked by its academic character, but it is still busyness nonetheless. If we can make time for relationships with people and God, He will make it possible for you to accomplish his vision for your life. God is our "time-turner" (for all you HP fans out there). He'll make it happen. Promise.
In conclusion, I think we should bless people with hardcore love and jam ;)
If you guys have some free time this summer, meditate on what it means to provide a relationship that is "home" to someone. How do we actualize this kind of relationship? (Ya'll probably have lots of ideas coming from Chapta' Camp).
Love ya'll,
Hana
This reminds me a little of what I'm at least trying to do with Teen Challenge - to make real friendships with people that many would more naturally avoid. I totally agree with you about busyness. It's so easy to just say, 'sorry, I have a paper to write,' and cut off a conversation that could really be much more important. Note to all Swatties: Swarthmore life is not nearly as important as Swatties make it out to be. It is four years of a much longer life, and, though graduating is important, as long as you're passing your grades are a good deal less so. I just spent a semester doing approximately nothing (you've probably heard me refer to myself as Swarthmore's laziest student) and, not only were my grades perfectly okay, but my life, relationships, etc. totally flourished. We can do both! (You can do it, God can help!) LOL
ReplyDelete