I have been reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World and she has a chapter about the spiritual practice of getting lost. I was confused at first and then so excited because I get lost all the time, which means I am super spiritual, right?
No, that’s not what it means, but she explains that there is something unnerving and intensely humbling about finding yourself in desperate need of help. The panic that rises up and the survival mode that your brain switches into all remind us that we need help in this world. There are just some things that can’t be accomplished alone.
We need each other and we need help.
I was recently reminded of this when I faced the halfway point of my journey in seminary. I was extremely lost because I couldn’t figure out a way to pay for the upcoming semester. While I had nice scholarships, those scholarships covered the class costs, but not books and gas to commute to school.
It was unnerving for me. If this is what God called me to, then why weren’t the finances taken care of and why if the finances weren’t taken care of could I not figure out a way to make ends meet no matter how many jobs I took on.
For me, this meant that I had to admit that I could not do it on my own and that I did not have it all together. For me, these are the two hardest things to ever have to admit., but it’s in that admission that I am able to say, “I am human, not superhuman and I need help.”
It’s something I taught my second graders to say instead of making excuses, it’s about time I learned it!