Just as important as tracking your relapses, or sudden mood swings, is recording your progress. Because by looking at how far you’ve come, you essentially give yourself a booster shot to run even further.
Easter and Spring, especially, are good times to take a minute to consider your growth and rebirth in certain areas. In fact, Beliefnet has just launched a Stories of Renewal contest. They are asking members to share life events that have transformed them: becoming a parent, beating an addiction, deepening their faith, changing their spiritual path, or anything that speaks to them of renewal.
Me?
I have been repeating a mantra for three weeks: “God’s love is enough.” And I think it’s finally starting to soak in a little. I’m becoming less of a people-pleaser.
In “The Inner Voice of Love,” the book quote a few times a week, Henri Nouwen, says this:
You will discover that the more love you can take in and hold on to, the less fearful you will become. You will speak more simply, more directly, and more freely about what is important to you, without fear of other people’s reactions. You will also use fewer words, trusting that you communicate your true self even when you do not speak much.
I didn’t realize how far I’d come until a friend of mine pointed it out at dinner the other night. Everyone else was drinking wine with our tapas, which I don’t mind at all, but I had been looking forward to my cappuccino at the end of the meal. When our plates were cleared and I asked for coffee, my friend said, “Don’t get coffee now because we are going back to Sheila’s house for cake and coffee.” Without my thought, I said, “I know. But I want the coffee now. Like your wine, it’s my treat.”
She smiled, and ten minutes later, when we went to the restroom, she commented on my progress. She was right! I would not have said that three months ago, or if I did, would have deliberated on it for fifteen minutes prior. I’ve been working hard on being less of a people-pleaser–in fact, it was my New Year’s resolution–and this was a small, but clear indicator that I was making strides.
I realize next to Jesus’ bodily resurrection after a gory crucifixion, my asking for coffee seems a tad insignificant. But it’s tiny growth. And if I keep on building on these tiny growths, then one day, I might believe in every moment that God’s love is enough, and therefore, I don’t have to earn it from everyone I know.
What’s your story of renewal? Click here to enter the contest.
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