I would assert that true discernment of vocation is really about this:
"Those who love a cause are those who love the life which has to be led in order to serve it.
~ Simone Weil
(Quoted by The Anchorhold at St. Laika's)
"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors."
~ African proverb
(Quoted by Robert J. Wicks at the beginning of Crossing the Desert)
For three years people have urged me to see that there is wisdom to be gained from catastrophe. I have resisted that suggestion, with its implication that the value of what is gained somehow compensates for what has been lost ~ resisted it with all my might. But now I understand: there is no fair trade, no equitable exchange. Small nuggets of wisdom come at great cost. Among those nuggets: the knowledge that I would not choose to go panning for them.
(Me.)
I shudder to think what might be on my mind another twenty birthdays from now. But ~ perhaps that is how long it takes to make peace with the life one loves, the rough seas, and the imbalance of exchange.
