A good and faithful servant.........

Today was the first day of our first AVP workshop.  The workshop is comprised of young professional men and women from Georgian minorities - a challenging group who would like nothing better than to analyze each phase of the AVP process.  I implored them to wait until our third day since each step builds upon the next.  So far so good........

I am always grateful for the gifts of an AVP workshop.  For those times when I get to reach deep within for experiences that may have brought me joy, or pain, or happiness:  To understand my own failings and how the cycle of violence effects my life and those that I love.  Yes, there is a certain selfishness that keeps my doing the work but it is also a huge gift to help others open to their own understanding and journey.

I once had someone tell me that what I call my journey to God is not really that at all:  That it's really just working to try to understand myself.  What I've come to realize is that listening to and learning from and about that which is indwelling is one in the same with learning about God, for God is to be found in all times and in all places - including in us unworthy human beings.  And so, my journey to God is an inward journey - a path through my fears, beyond my hopes and dreams to a place where the Light of God's Love Lights my way and informs the path upon which my feet walk.  In those times when I listen well there is the clear sense of God walking beside me on the path, and for that moment, I am the good and faithful servant filled with a Joy that passes human understanding.  In those moments, I know why I would give all to do God's bidding.