Poet Rainer Maria Rilke writes, “Go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in.” The narrative is God speaking to us, whom God has created, urging us to live fully into who we are meant to be. Live the height, depth, and breadth of God’s expectations to the point where we burn like flames casting shadows big enough for God to fill with love and grace for the whole world.
Now that is what truly inspires me today. To imagine myself in a way gives me courage in these uncertain times. If I burn brightly with that light of Christ in this world that is hurting so much, then perhaps in my shadow, someone can find comfort or peace.
So, amid everything happening to us – both beauty and terror – I celebrate sacred words like these from Rilke. Words that remind us of who we are called to be and what we are called to do in this time, at this moment. “Just keep going. No feeling is final,” Rilke writes. Don’t lose your connection to God.
This message is excerpted from “What are the limits of your longing?” by Jennifer Michael from the December 14, 2020, blog of the Women of the ELCA. Today we commemorate Lucy, martyr, 304.
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