Quaker Sayings2 Let Your Life Speak Phil Gulley. When I was in the fourth grade, a lady named Louise Halfaker

Transcription

1 Quaker Sayings2 Let Your Life Speak Phil Gulley When I was in the fourth grade, a lady named Louise Halfaker came to our school and gave a speech to our class, Mrs. Conley s class, about the wonders of capitalism and entrepreneurialism, how if we all worked hard we could become millionaires and there was no better place to start than to deliver the Indianapolis News after school each day. She snared about six of us, paid five dollars a week, and taught us the ins and outs of newspaper delivery. She urged us to read the newspaper each day so we could comment about the daily news while we handed our customers the paper. I see the gross national product was up this year, we would say. Most of the kids limited their commentary to the front page, but I always liked the Dear Abby column, so would read it each day, then remark on it as I handed the customers their paper. Having mother-in-law problems? I would ask. Be sure to read Dear Abby. Or Kids giving you trouble? Dear Abby has the answer for you. Or Marriage on the rocks? See what Dear Abby has to say. My fascination for advice columnists never abated. Even today, it is the first thing I read when I open the paper each morning, though now I suspect Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil have surpassed the newspaper advice columnists as the sources of all wisdom. 1

2 I never thought about it then, but isn t it interesting how often we turn to people we don t even know for advice on the most intimate aspects of our lives? And grant them authority to make sweeping diagnoses of our lives based on the thinnest of evidence. Dr. Phil will listen to a caller for 30 seconds, then make a psychological evaluation, rough up the caller, propose a complete overhaul of their lives, and make it seem credible. But have you ever stopped to think that you might be the best expert on you? Last week we began thinking about some more well-known Quaker sayings and how, because they represent a distillation of wisdom over the centuries, might be useful to us today. Our first saying is the phrase, Let your life speak. It is actually an adaptation of the phrase, Let your life preach, an expression the founder of Quakerism, George Fox, first used in his Epistle 200. Fox wrote so many letters, over 400, we had to number them to keep them straight. In the 200 th Epistle, he wrote, Let your lives preach, let your light shine, that your works may be seen, that your Father may be glorified; that your fruits may be unto holiness, and that your end may be everlasting life. Fox was saying our lives should be a witness to our beliefs. Our lives should reflect our values. Think how discouraging it is when someone who purports to be Christian treats others unkindly. So Fox was reminding early Friends not to preach with their lips, but with their lives. Let your life preach. 2

3 But there is a second meaning, another interpretation of this phrase. To let your life speak isn t just about letting your life speak to someone else. It is about letting your life speak to you. You are the best expert on you. Do you listen to your life? Do you listen to your values, your passions, your principles? Let your life speak to you, because you are the best expert on you. Of course, this isn t to say other people can t offer us insights about ourselves that we ve been blind to. Of course they can and when that is done carefully and wisely and thoughtfully, we need to take that seriously. However, we must also cultivate the art of listening to our lives. Because you are the best expert on you. You know what you are passionate about. You know what frightens you. You know how you were raised, you know the influences in your earliest years. You know what you love. You know what troubles you. You know what inspires you. You know your relationship with God. You know what gives you hope. You know what you do well. 3

4 You know what challenges you. You know what brings you joy. You know what saddens you. You know what makes you feel grown-up and whole and mature. You know what makes you feel childish and immature. Do you listen to those values, those insights? Do you let your life speak, to you? Now let me propose something, and if you find it helpful, then keep it in mind. Healthy spirituality good, rich, full spirituality happens when we are God-aware, when we are others-aware, and when we are self-aware. The church has done a pretty good job of encouraging us to be aware of God and others. It has emphasized the importance of being open to God s presence and sensitive to other s needs. But what we have not done as well is helping us become self-aware, teaching ourselves the importance of listening to our lives, letting our lives speak, to us. Here s an example of what this might look like. It s a story about my brother Doug. I don t think many of you have ever met Doug. I know some of you have. Great guy. He s always been unusually sensitive and aware, even as a child. 4

5 Doug went to college to major in sports medicine, got married, and moved to Los Angeles to work in sports medicine. He enjoyed doing that, and because he is bright and helpful, found pleasure in it. But it wasn t enough. It was good, but it wasn t enough. Then a friend of his who worked at a school phoned him on his day off to see if he could substitute teach a class of mentally and emotionally challenged teenagers. Doug agreed to, though with some trepidation. But he went and did it, and had an absolute blast. It was like opening a door and having the sun hit you full in the face. He returned again and again to substitute teach, every chance he got. He still enjoyed sports medicine, but he was fully alive when he taught and he began to realize that. Everything he valued and enjoyed helping the less fortunate, being with teenagers, making a difference, ministering to people, equipping young people for life, being a compassionate presence to others was fulfilled whenever he taught on his day off. So in the middle of his career, he left his work in sports medicine and became a teacher. Went back to college nights and weekends and summers and became a special-education teacher. His life was speaking to him, and he listened. Was this easy? Of course not. Anytime we make a significant life change it can be frightening, and we can find a million reasons not to do it. I m too old. I have too many responsibilities. My spouse won t like it. 5

6 My parents will be disappointed. It will cost money. But when we let our lives speak, to us, and we listen, the cocoon opens, the butterfly takes wing. Two lessons: Let your life preach. Anyone can preach with their words. Let us preach with our lives. Secondly, let your life speak, to you. Listen to your passions, listen to your joys, listen to the voice of God within you, and see where they take you. God can speak to us in many ways, through any person. But God speaks most often through our lives. Let your life speak, not just to others, but to you. 6