The Truth of Embedded Essence Virtue
All are Called and Each must Choose
As I reflected on a recent Sunday homily, my thoughts turned to two of many guiding wisdoms that my mother, Alyce Kremer, frequently shared:
+ All have a calling, a specialness within.
+ As you go through life, you always have choice – yes or no. If you are ignoring the choice before you, you are still making a choice.
And now, as I am writing this introduction, I am hearing her words, words she said emphatically while pointing to herself, “I may be living in this old body, but I’m still me in here!” I am seeing more clearly now than ever, the “me in here” is our essence virtue embedded within, virtue we are intended to manifest ongoingly through our lifetime. A spirit manifested is available forever and to all. Her manifested spirit seems to have been active during this writing, and as well during this week’s living beatitude and called work dialogues where we processed the reflections you will find below. It is my hope that you, too, will gather friends, and use this paper as food for dialogue.
Called work and living beatitude are inextricably related. Answering “Yes” to our first image of our called work draws us into the lifetime process path of beatitude, the process path created and followed by Christ, given to us for our too becoming authentically human, becoming vessels for the all-inclusive love of the Father Creator entering earth, becoming instruments joining the Father’s intended ongoing upwardly unfolding creation work… the process path essential to our becoming community following the way of love and peace… as intended.
All are called…
Each and every person has embedded within, a virtue, an essence pattern of intent, a particular potential embedded by the Father Creator, potential enfolded, intended to be unfolded – to be manifested through taking up our called work on this earth at this particular time. Each and all have called work, particular work, work that is uniquely – belonging to no other – ours… called work that draws us along a lifelong path of realizing potential… within self, within others, within community, within the whole of life. Taking up our called work, with all-inclusive love in the process, is essential to humanity moving towards peace and wholeness; away from the habitual divisiveness which leads to the anger, hate and violence we are now experiencing in today’s culture.
Called work is not a role, not a position, not a career… called work is an essence process, an inner process through which we are able to see, embrace and manifest – ongoingly manifest – the virtue embedded within. As we contemplate taking up our called work, we begin to see there are roles, particular roles within our society, which are or may be more conducive than others to enabling the manifesting of our particular essence virtue, the realizing of potential… roles placing us in fields of endeavor where we will be more able to fulfill our life calling.
The perspective we hold, where we start our thinking from, determines the path we take, what we move toward, what we move away from, and ultimately what we create, what we bring into the world.
It takes community to see and answer “Yes” to called work, a community with faith in intent, faith in the truth of the intent of the Father Creator, a community moving away from starting our thinking from economics, legality and rights (today’s not so hidden, but very controlling pattern); a community moving towards beginning our thinking with the truth of intended virtue embedded within – awakening, enabling, developing and manifesting the enfolded essence virtue.
And each must choose…
Created as human beings, we have choice, we have free will conscious choice. We have the choice of answering “Yes” or “No” to our life calling. Saying “Yes” is not a onetime event, but an entering into a process – the beatitude process – calling for ongoing yessing to ever more inclusive, ever more whole humanness advancing, life nourishing work. During his lifetime, Christ, who intended his way to be our way, made very clear this essential ongoing exercising of choice. Repeatedly, through his living, working and teaching, he called attention to the criticality of staying on path. Some examples for our reflection… After his intentional dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well, he responded to the apostles’ questions, “My food is to do the will of the Father and accomplish his work.” Before being condemned to death, he said to Pilot, “For this I was born, for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” And when Peter tried to draw him away from his called work, he admonished him with “Get behind me Satan; you are thinking not as God thinks, but as man thinks…” Ultimately, in the Garden, he answered, “Thy will be done;” he willingly entered the process of living out the ninth beatitude (MT5:11-12). The truth of our call to work in community on this earth is revealed in the prayer to the Father, “Our Father… Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth…”, a prayer reflecting the realness of the beatitude path by ending with the petition (ref. Luke), “Submit us not to the final test.”
And so, taking on the aim of creating a hopeful future for the children, all children in the world, we see the essentiality of awakening each and all to the truth of called work, the truth of essence virtue intentionally embedded within… and of developing ways of enabling one another in our lifelong work of seeing, unfolding and manifesting the spirit within… as persons, as community… becoming a community no longer organizing our thinking with economics, legality and rights; becoming a community beginning our thinking with truth – the truth of intent – the truth of embedded essence virtue, the truth of intended ways of working of life, and the truth of dignity in authentic humanness… becoming a community always remembering, if love – the all-inclusive love of the Father Creator – is not present in our process, all-inclusive love will not be present in the outcome.
As I reflect on what is written here, I am “seeing once again for the first time” that facing our concerns, our stirrings, our worries about the realities of our children, our communities, our nation, the world, and earth itself, we do have a place from which to begin, from which to make a difference that is real. We can, through reflection, intentional dialogue and prayerful questioning, pursue a seeing of our own unique called work… a “seeing” that makes visible our choice – a “Yes” or a “No” – at this time of now.
Humbly in service, Sandra Maslow Smith
Intentionally grandmothering a hopeful future for the children
