The Making of Us 

By Nita Gilger 

Together but different. Searching and finding. Swimming and not sinking. Those are themes from the riverside where I witnessed geese and turtles swimming together looking for a feast. 
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There is way too much division, fear, and even hatred going around for my heart to hold it all. It turns out that I do not have to hold it all alone. There are others to share it with me and others who care about healing and hope. It seems to me that the strongest hearts are the ones that have learned to carry-on, trust, and love again even when broken. Strength is not the absence of pain; it is the decision to keep your heart open in a world that has given you reasons to close it. We are constantly being made anew. Each and every day is a gift and a call toward something greater than myself. The universe is a part of me and I am a part of it. God calls us toward a daily renewing of our hearts. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." Renewal is available every day and it is an ongoing process. We are always in the process of becoming. I believe we are held in love and invited to co-create with God. The possibilities are vast and at the ready. The divine lure is powerful and purposeful. 

Rainer Maria Rilke's poem, "God Speaks to Each of Us as He Makes Us" summarizes what I want to say today. I
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God speaks to each of us as he makes us, 
then walks with us silently out of the night. 
 
These words we dimly hear: 
 
You, sent out beyond your recall, 
go to the limits of your longing 
Embody me. 
 
Flare up like a flame 
and make big shadows I can move in. 
 
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. 
Just keep going. No feeling is final. 
Don't let yourself lose me. 
 
Nearby is the country they call life. 
You will know it by its seriousness. 
 
Give me your hand.