I have a feeling that the reason this subject is whizzing round in my mind at the moment is not just the reminder in Lesley's blog - but what I've been reading in the ABC's recommended Lent book - Barefoot Disciple: Walking the Way of Passionate Humility by Stephen Cherry which I highly recommend to all.
Stephen talks about "honest and informed self-awareness" which is "an attempt to open ourselves more fully both to God's will and to reality." I think much of my angst about strength and weakness, being professional and being vulnerable, comes from an unhealthy place - all that education about being a strong woman and what that might mean (please feel free to get out of that box, love - oh, and just get into that other one over there would you?). I think I need to pray for the strength to let go a bit, yes - but I also would like others to stop making assumptions.
People it would seem have a habit of grouping together certain personal attributes - and this is unhelpful. Being chatty doesn't mean you don't listen. Being shy doesn't make you sensitive. Being confident doesn't mean you are unaware of your own vulnerability and that of others - in fact often confidence and calm come from accepting weakness and acknowledging that you're not in control - and that you couldn't and shouldn't be.
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How often do people assume that because I'm an extrovert I am not spiritual?
Answers on a postcard.
Or to illustrate (as my mind flits around the topic like a butterfly):
The monk who everyone described as "the holy one" or "the one whose always praying" said "I don't know why they all say that, I'm usually daydreaming". The benefits of being quiet - everyone thinks that you are holy.
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