January 31Doing Sacred Work
We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. It needs a divine person to exhibit anything divine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Self-Reliance (1854)
Wow, coward is a strong, perhaps overly dramatic word here, but maybe, just maybe, it applies.
When we hold back and half-express ourselves, it is often driven by something like cowardice or even shame.
You got dealt a hand that wasn't that great. You repeatedly got told you weren't going to amount to much. You didn't realize this was going to be so much work.
Suck it up—you're doing divine work.
It's not your fault that you feel afraid and that you sometimes feel and act like a coward—but it is your fault if you stay that way.
Challenge Question
- Who will be better off 10 years from now because you decided to do what you do?
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