Defining Myself

In one of our recent ILM classes, one of the sisters was sharing with us her experience in prison ministry. She was relating how they have to take off everything they have except literally the clothes on their back before they are allowed in to minister to those imprisoned. So, they bring nothing with them but their person in ministering to the prisoners. And the nun said that she eventually realized that all she needed to minister to those in need inside the prison was her person.

Indeed, I need food and sustenance and others as well to be alive and keep on living but in the end, I am all I need to live. I am all I need to love. I need no gifts to give but myself to express the love I have for others. And if I am willing to truly give myself and my time to another in love, then I will be willing to give up anything for that person.

I am also the fountain from which springs more life and creativity. I express myself in the things I do and say. I define what I have and the people I love by the person that I am. But somewhere along the way, things get distorted and I get to be defined by the things I have and the people around me. Thus, people would rather be defined by the things they possess or by the job that they have or even by the car that they drive. People would live their lives by what other people say rather than be the person that they are. I was made in the image of God. I reflect the goodness of my source. That is all I need to realize in trying to define myself.

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. Mark 6:7-13

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