According to an old Hasidic tale, a young man asked the elderly, wise Rabbi Zusya, “How can I become like you?” Zusya said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?’ Then he said nothing more.*
As for myself, I want to write like Anne Lamott and James Risen, climb the Sierra Mountains like John Muir, preach like Peter Gomes, and look like Crystal Ball, or at least have the energy and health I used to have. However, as Shanda Rhimes reminds me, those jobs are already taken.
In 2010, I wrote:
Within us is a whole, beautiful, courageous, delightful person – a creation of God. From the time we are born, we have gifts and abilities to be discovered. Our challenge in life is to discover that wholeness and live it, not only for ourselves, but for God and the world. Check out this post.
My calling was never to be Anne Lamott, James Risen, Peter Gomes, John Muir or Crystal Ball. My goal is to be the best Barbara Anderson I can be. That job is mine.
*See Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.
*See Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.