Beautiful Truth

In leading the contemplative worship this evening at church I used this poem by Macrina Wiederkehr:
 
I will believe the truth about myself
no matter how beautiful it is:
 
I believe in my power
to transform indifference into love.
 
I believe I have an amazing gift
to keep hope alive in the face of despair.
 
I believe I have the remarkable skill
of deleting bitterness from my life.
 
I believe in my budding potential
to live with a nonviolent heart.
 
I believe in my passion to speak the truth
even when it isn’t popular.
 
I believe I have the strength of will
to be peace in a world of violence.
 
I believe in my miraculous capacity
for unconditional love.
 
I will believe the truth about myself
no matter how beautiful it is.
 
And we sang a song with these lines from it: I will believe the truth about myself,
no matter how beautiful it is.  
 
After we had sat in silence contemplating these words and the service was over, a woman came up to me.  “You are asking a lot from us Minnesotans with that thought,” she said.  Seeing my confused look, she continued, “We don’t think highly of ourselves…. In fact, it’s forbidden.  The best we might say is, “I am alright” as a way of praising ourselves.”
 
While I had not known this about Minnesotans, it didn’t really surprise me as I think it is part of the human condition in general.  We don’t want to see the beauty in ourselves, for we get told, so often, about our flaws, or we get told not to be prideful, and our light and beauty get squished down, word by word, slap down by slap down, and our beauty flees to a safe space, locked away deep inside.
 
Yet we are created in the Divine image, filled with beauty and light and love.  And when we sit in the presence of God we can catch a glimpse of this truth once more.  All we have to do is slow down enough to sit in the Presence! 
 
This is not narcissistic recognition of our beauty…. It’s not just an outer beauty.  It’s a way of being, a way of looking at the world and our place in it, a way of moving through the space around us, a beauty that shines the love of God into the world.  It’s not conforming to the world, but being the counter to the lies it tells us.  It’s not listening to the noise that tells us we need to be more, it’s sitting in the silence that tells us we are more than enough. 
 
This week, I invite you to sit in the silence, remembering that you are made in the image of God, and that the truth is you are beautiful.  Believe it.  Trust it.  Live it!