More Musings on Most Feared Woman

After publishing my blog post on a political woman not requiring validation, I thought it would be useful to reflect on a spiritual woman not requiring validation.

Who might that woman be? Any one of the women around you. Every one of the women. Are you aware of the spiritual life of the women in your life?

When we express with and from our soul, we are connected to our depths. We often hide what resides there ~ as though it were a part of us that needed protection instead of being the part that armors by disarming.

Men are not expected to require validation. In my experience, many probably could use it. Men want validation from other men and from the women in their lives as much as women want it. It's just that they request or demand it in different ways.

A woman who does not require validation is a woman of strength. In the spiritual sense, she is someone who does not fear what comes her way. She recognizes herself in every attacker as completely as she knows that she has nothing in common with that person. She finds laughter in the midst of difficulties and focuses on the needs and accomplishments of others as much as or more than her own. She does not need another person to tell her any of these things.... she knows in her depths who she is and what she is capable of.

We often name those women saints. Whether through a formal process or not, we recognize the individual women as holy and their lives as profound. Yet, if we look deeply enough at ourselves and our women companions, we catch glimpses of those holy moments in ourselves and those companions. We find grace in not needing validation, in knowing that who we are and what we do belongs. Those moments save us.

How do you find validation? Do you expect it from others? want it from them? How do you find it in yourself? Do you consciously validate others? If so, what does that look like? If not, why not? Do you fear the women who do not require your validation to proceed with their lives?

Easter Sunday ~ Lent is Done

From Seasons of Celebration by Thomas Merton:
"Lent has summoned us to change our hearts, to effect in ourselves the Christian metanoia. But at the same time Lent has reminded us perhaps all too clearly of our own powerlessness to change our lives in any way. .... Is there nothing more than this?
.... Easter is the hour of our own deliverance - from what? Precisely from Lent and from its hard Law which accuses and judges our infirmity. ... here is the "grace" of Easter which we fail to lay hands on because we are afraid to understand its full meaning. To understand Easter and live it, we must renounce our dread of newness and of freedom!"

One of the lessons of Practicing Lent is that changing my life ~ giving things up ~ choosing what to give up and what to change ~ is not easy. It also requires me to accept my own weaknesses and shortcomings as well as acknowledge my own power and strength. Practicing Lent this year has been not only a different experience but a change of attitude and vision for me. Lent is about change and awareness ~ and, as Merton says, it's about the Law.

Now. Today. Easter. Resurrection. The grace to move forward bearing the gifts from Practicing Lent. I like the final line from Thomas Merton: "...we must renounce our dread of newness and freedom!" Change is a good thing. As I give up on some things, some habits, some fears, I replace them with more of what is good and holy. I feel a sense of renewal that is moving me toward a greater access of freedom, a fuller awareness of the blessings in my life.

What about you? What practices bring you to that place of newness? renewal? freedom? How will you move forward and onward in the light of this new day?