Being "Borne"

This morning, I read a bit from Fr. Richard Rohr’s book, Falling Upward: a Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.  Fr. Rohr is a very wise, spiritual man, and like most wise and spiritual people, he is not well accepted by some parts of the Christian community.  Others may not like him, but I never fail to learn something profound from his writing.   In this book, Fr. Rohr confronts the work we all do, that we must do during the “first half of life”  as we establish an identity, a persona—a word he explained came from the Greek and Latin words meaning “theatrical mask”! The more difficult, spiritual work of the soul is to dig beneath that persona to the True Self—that self that is in union with God, that God has planted within us from the beginning.  It’s especially interesting that the elephant I chose for this Friday’s “elephant of the week” points to that very idea.  Or at least that’s the lesson that I am gleaning from it perhaps because my mind is still thinking about my morning reading.

This elephant is actually two elephants—an elephant within an elephant!  Carved from some kind of stone, the outer elephant is about the size of my fist with the smaller elephant inside the size of a walnut.  Mika, my step-daughter gave this elephant to me years ago when she, her husband and then baby Katie lived in Atlanta.  Up until recently I’ve only seen it as a representation of a mother elephant with a baby elephant still inside.

The “baby” elephant is more difficult to see and one has to really peer through the holes to get any of the detail. Even so, it can not be seen in its entirety without the shell of the mama blocking the view. Naturally, you can imagine the difficulty I had photographing it without a professional camera. (I also wonder, of course, how this carving was done – and I’ll probably have to search the internet—a project for later!)

Anyway, most of us Christians believe we are “born again”, but that term means different things to different Christians.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to believe that being born again is an on-going process…something that does not happen in a flash of a moment because of a decision I made.  Some of my Christians friends might disagree with me. Whatever, the small “elephant within” is a symbol to me, of that spirit within me that is clamoring to get out; my True Self, as Richard Rohr might put it.  The outer elephant  (the mask or persona or false self—whatever you want to call it) is always there, but hopefully, as we grow spiritually, the Voice of that inner spirit—that Holy Spirit—makes itself more and more known.  It’s a daily undertaking, and mostly a difficult one.  Thank God He is there with each of us every step of the way!

Here's a poem I wrote on Christmas Day a few years back that hopefully speaks a bit toward that Incarnation of Spirit...known as Christ.

Incarnate Love

started as a gift

undeserved

not desired

for which there was

no proper preparation.

larger than its package

unconventional

not convenient

for which there was

no previous portrayal.   

finished as an offering

sacrificial

sacramental

for which there was

no perfect price.

Which is greater

the gift or the giving?