Housekeeping

Our projects and goals often unfold and develop at a different pace and in different ways than we expected or hoped for. And even if we have a sense that a plan might take some difficulty and slow work, when the difficult and slowness arrives we can’t help but feel a little discouraged.

My week has had moments of a combination between these two sources of slight discouragement. This summer, I knew heading into it, was going to be a time of slowly developing connections and relationships within the Kwantlen community, getting my feet wet on campus and envisioning what concrete projects I could undertake as a chaplain when the Fall semester rolls around. That has only been partially what has happened – in fact, there have been a number of fast paced and high energy days on campus, where meetings with different university departments, connecting with students, and my own reflection about the shape of this chaplaincy make for a full and interesting schedule. Last week, too, was a busy one, planning for, implementing, and following up on a Multi-Faith Information evening, inviting other communities to participate in our Multi-Faith Centre on campus.

This week, though, has moved along much more slowly. The campus has seemed quiet. I’m yearning for an increasing amount of intentional relationships focused around Christian faith and spirituality, but many of my connections with students are one-off, brief conversations. Also, because the Multi-Faith Centre is so new, there is currently a slight lack of cohesive vision and direction for the Centre and its various chaplains, and this is something of a hindrance for implementing or even envisioning some concrete projects I want to undertake as a Christian chaplain.

So while there are lots of good and positive things moving along in my work, there are also opportunities for discouragement and confusion. And it is not necessarily a bad thing to be disappointed. We all have dreams and visions for our careers, families, relationships, and our very lives; sometimes things work out with ease but that is definitely not always the case – we’re also all faced with challenges that can seem to stall or derail what we hoped for.

But while it is not a bad thing in itself to be discouraged, there are different ways forward. 

Discouragement can be an end in itself, swallowing us more thoroughly into its power. While we can’t avoid discouragement entirely, we can choose what we let it do to us. Do we invite it in and allow it to set up camp in our home? Or can we instead invite discouragement in as a sort of housekeeper, as the Islamic poet Rumi suggested (see the poem below)? It comes into our souls, not to stay forever, but to empty us out, to clean us of plans and projects that lie broken on the floor, and then leave an empty, clean, and fresh space where God himself can come in, inhabit us, and work with us again to look forward in hope to new possibilities.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.