Last week at church our priest shared a homily that really knocked my socks off. It was a children’s mass and his teaching was designed to convey a big concept in a way that small children can understand it. Apparently, I am in need of being taught as a small child right now.
He held up two forsythia branches. One was bare. It looked like a craggy old stick. The other one was filled with beautiful yellow flowers. He asked the children “Which one is dead?”
Most of the children pointed to the bare branch. The others were either under their seats, picking their noses or staring at the ceiling. (Sometimes profound teachings are lost on the young. Or maybe they just don’t need profound teachings.)
I’m usually good with trick questions and I felt the trick inside this question but I wasn’t ready for the sucker punch to my soul that came when the trick was revealed….
He told the children:
The truth is that both are dead, one just looks dead and the other one looks alive. But both have been cut off from their source of life and eventually this pretty one will look like this dead one.
And many people are walking around like this pretty forsythia branch. They look alive but they are really dead. Because they have cut themselves off from the source of their life – God.
Big fat tears welled up in my eyes. The truth is that slowly over the last few years, as my success has grown, I’ve cut myself off from what I know to be right for me, for my path. And if I keep going in the direction I’m going I’ll be the beautiful forsythia branch – looking good on the outside but dead inside.
So what’s a girl to do when she finds herself headed in the direction of becoming the Walking Dead? She slows down. That is what I’m doing. I’m checking in every step of the way and if it doesn’t feel 100% right, its 100% wrong.
As I wrote last week, slowing down is not fun (for me.) But it’s right. And even in the big, deep sea of fear that comes with doing nothing I can still hear the siren song of greatness that is coming from my soul. So I choose faith.
If any of this is resonating with you I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share them below!
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