Somewhere along the way I had signed up for whatever in God's design, fully wanting His total influence in my life. I didn't know that meant brokenness and lots of it.
The wilderness of the next eighteen years was...excruciating. I never thought I'd make it through the day, any day, much less the next one.
Has this been the necessary suffering that Rohr describes:
Until we are led to the limits of our game plan, and find it to be insufficient, we will not search out or find the real source, the deep well, or the constantly flowing stream (p. 67).This very independent, strong, driven wife, mother and educator met failure at every level...and survived.
It is why I can so fully embrace the premise of Falling Upward.
Is failure required? What kind of message is that?
Rohr says:
Falling, losing, failing, transgression, and sin are the pattern, I am sorry to report. Yet they all lead toward home...so we must stumble and fall...We must actually be out of the driver's seat for a while, or we will never learn how to give up control to the Real Guide...this kind of falling is what I mean by necessary suffering (pp. 66-67).
Treachery? No...the Cross. And a most authentic embrace of it. For only in this wilderness will we reach for and expand toward the Love and Compassion that are the Power that overcomes, breaks...and heals.
What a crazy world is the Way of the Cross.
Is yours (your world) upside down yet? Have you entered your necessary suffering?
As we'll see, it leads to the sacred dance.
