Lent JourneySample

DAY 10
Words and consciousness

‘An infant’s journey into human awareness depends upon the mother’s voice displacing the surging abyss’ R M Ritchie

I long to live with the full knowledge of who I am and who my God is, because I realise my ‘unawareness’ makes my course in the stormy seas of life uncertain.

Today I am aware of my own life, my birth.

I think about my parents, my guardians – those who raised me and gave me my mother tongue. Without language I would not have been able to understand most things. Would I even have felt anything, for it is language that gives structure in so many ways. Without my mother tongue, there is a good chance that I would have been caught up in a hazy, chaotic and nonsensical reality.

Helen Keller was an author, political activist and teacher. She was also deaf and blind. Annie Sullivan had a huge impact on Helen’s life. She taught Helen to speak and it was her exceptional support that guided Helen out of a dark, hazy world towards freedom, thought, feelings and self-expression. It was a loving deed that left Helen with an improved awareness of herself, others, the world, and God.

My spiritual awakening brings with it a new birth. I am learning a new language. It is God’s words that guide me out of the darkness, chaos and haziness of my existence to a new freedom and awareness of others, the world, his presence and myself.

This may be the reason I have his words – words of life that give me hope in the storms of life; even give meaning to the storms.

If my psychological birth happens at approximately 18 months (according to psychology), and only then my sense of self is established, does this mean that I can be born again and again?

I awaken . . . continuously . . . this is rebirth.

EXERCISE
• You are invited to reflect on the following words during your quiet time: I am God’s beloved.
• Repeat the phrase a few times.
• What emotion does this evoke within you? Talk to God it.
• Reflect on what you may need to live these words and ask God to provide this for you.