JUNGLE CRUISE
“We love how you are pursuing your dreams. Your life example of following your dreams gives us hope, courage, and permission to pursue ours.” This has been one of the most frequent comments and encouragements we received while in Korea. A few added the phrase, “at your ripe age,” which made me crack a smile if not laugh out loud. Our adult children have chanted similar encouragements in recent years, which we cherish dearly.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that it took us all of our lifetime to discover and orient our lives to be where we are. Certainly, we have not arrived, as we are in the thick of things; we are wading knee-deep through a jungle swamp or hacking away at the jungle bushes to make our own trail while swatting away pesky insects. Peering through the jungle canopy, we catch glimpses of the mountain top occasionally to know we are moving in the right direction. However, we are not dreading the jungle; we are terribly excited, almost to a point of ecstasy, pinching ourselves and enjoying what every day brings, particularly our time in Korea.
My wife loves what she is doing in spiritual direction. She knows now that she was made for this. I can vouch for her passion because I have seen the transformation. I see her alive every day. The decisive confirmation of her calling comes from her interior conviction that this vocation is not only for her but also for the sake of the world. Frederick Buechner’s words ring true, “The place God calls you to is to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Pursuing what you love, thus, is not a selfish endeavor, but a lifelong endeavor to love yourself and to love the world God created. In the end, all these loves are encapsulated in loving God. In a way, she has already been to the mountain top. She has graciously and willingly joined me in the jungle tracking for my sake as well as for our joint calling.
Our lives and the pursuit of our dreams are a drop in the bucket, as there are many others who are on a similar path of discovery and counting the cost. Even then, I lament that Christianity has mainly become a thinking religion. It is almost to the point of “believe the right doctrine, and you will be saved.” There is an alarming disconnect between believing the right set of beliefs and living out our faith journey. The world no longer wants to be judged because it does not believe rightly. The world needs people who can model what it means to live and love rightly. That is the cry of the world, particularly in Korea.
Living and loving rightly do not mean perfection, but the desire to live authentically, acknowledging when we fall and fail. The living example is just that, an example of the good, the bad, and the ugly, which happen in real-time. What has inspired me over time is not the life of perfection, but the life that continues the imperfect journey toward perfection.
Looking back at our time in Korea, I have been gifted with older saints who are living out their faith journey here in Korea. As others may look to us for inspiration, we look to others for inspiration. Some of the common traits of these older saints we have come to admire are their humility, simplicity, thankfulness, and mindfulness. Topping all these traits, they are utterly and unapologetically themselves. All earnestly admit their faults and failures in the past and are quick to accept their shortcomings. This particular quality of humility has been life-giving and deeply refreshing for me. They also know they have not arrived and thus maintain their lifelong learning posture, which reflects their humility.
They are not simple-minded but maintain the quality of childlike simplicity. As they mature and become more seasoned, their lives have become simpler, having sorted out what is essential from the non-essentials of life. Simplicity also is reflected in their finances, rejoicing in what they have and trusting in God’s continual provision while maintaining the spirit and practice of generosity. In simplicity, there is generosity. The posture of thankfulness seamlessly permeates their lives in big and small things. They are not blinded by pursuing more, better, and bigger things in life but sustain an attitude of gratefulness, particularly in little and seemingly insignificant things.
A slower pace of life does not necessarily translate into mindfulness, but they have successfully cultivated mindfulness out of a slower pace of life. Mindfulness begets the kind of seeing, noticing, and hearing that beckon a timely and godly response. Mindfulness allows them to capture life as it happens in real-time and allows them to be fully present. When meeting people who are fully present, their mere presence is a gift, because one is not competing with their mind being somewhere else.
The older saints we have come to respect know who they are and who they are not in all their gifts and limitations. Perhaps since they know they have fewer years left to live, they cannot afford to live as someone else other than themselves. Perhaps since they have lived a few more years, they know it is futile to pretend to be someone else. I would vouch for a combination of both as I recollect my own journey. Thomas Merton’s curt words came as a shock when I first encountered them years ago, “For me to be a saint means to be myself.” The next line fills out further, “Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self.” Stemming out of the discovery of true self, one is to fully live out of one’s true self. Only then, we become a solution to the world’s deep hunger. What a gift they are to me and to the world. Wherever they are and whatever they do, the light of sanctity and salvation shines, providing hope and restoration.