Becoming Who We Aready Are

Listening to various inspirational speakers I am struck by the following two statements

“Becoming the best version of ourselves” - Matthew Kelly

“Becoming who we already are and all that we truly are” - Richard Rohr

The more I think of them I can see that they are basically driving at the same thing and that is that God created us as said that it is “good.” In essence in our creation we had everything we needed and were good but as time went on something may have changed; as we grew and got older we probably started to acquire baggage along the way and changed that good not necessarily to bad but to something that was less than God intended us to be.

So becoming the ‘best version of ourselves,” and “all that we truly are,” requires that we change. This change will probable take form in an unlearning process for some of the things that we have learned and have caused us to not be all that we truly are. We need to let go of the baggage that’s weighing us down. If you are like me that letting go process is not just a one time shot it may be a continuous process.

Fr. Rohr equates to a turning around not just once but until it becomes a way of life. He reminds us of what the old Shakers used to sing and dance to “. . . To turn, turn / will be our delight, / ’Till by turning, turning / we come round right.”  

An elderly man who I’ll call Mr. P told me a story of a young man who came knocking at his door calling on one of his sons. Mr. P answered the knock and opened the door. The young man proceeded to go right in and started to call for his son. Mr. P stopped him and told him to turn around and to go back out the door and start again. As he did he instructed him that this time when he answered the door he was to address him as Mr. P and that before he entered he was to take off his hat. The young man at first looked at him as if he had two heads but he did as he was told.

You may think that Mr. P was an old fuddy duddy but he was trying to correct this young man, to turn him around and teach or remind him to have some respect. We may not like to be told to turn around but think twice about the advice given to you because one doesn’t always see the little baggage that’s being picked up along the way. It tends to accumulate and weigh us down.