Learning Who We Are
Learning Who We Are
I was doing some reading recently and came across this quote by Anne Sexton, a poet:
“The great theme is not Romeo and Juliet….the great theme we all share is that of becoming ourselves, of overcoming our father and mother, of assuming our identities somehow.”
I found this quote to be very thought-provoking. Many, if not most of us, think the theme of our life should be love found in relationships with others. In many ways it is central to our life being that God is Love and we are in relationship with Him because of His great Love for us. However, if we don’t know ourselves, if our identities are tangled up in our history and we are operating out of our wounds from the past, we cannot really know Love. We cannot experience Love from God or others. In our woundedness we seem to either move away from people as to protect ourselves from Love, move toward others demanding that they come through for us, or move against people. None of these choices present a very viable option for us. In knowing ourselves we can accept Love in its truest form with God and others.
Untangling from our mothers and fathers can be hard, exhausting, and painful. But I think the work is worth the greater reward, which is Love.
Melissa
