I have heard many times that the Chinese character for our word crisis is composed of the two characters representing danger and opportunity. This seemed like a great thought and I went searching on the internet to be sure I had it right. In my search, I came across an article by a University of Pennsylvania professor of Chinese language and literature that shed some light on this idea while, at the same time, throwing some cold water on what has become a popular understanding! You can read the article yourself at: http://pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html.

The bottom line, according to this expert, is that a crisis in Chinese is much like a crisis in English.  The danger part is quite real and what has been called an opportunity is really more like an "incipient moment, a dangerous moment, a time when things start to go awry. It is not a juncture when one goes looking for advantages and benefits. In a crisis, one wants above all to save one's skin and neck!" (Victor H. Mair)  Of course, incipient and dangerous moments when things can fall apart are also times when fundamental change can happen and the new can begin. It is usually no fun to go through times of crisis, but they can be transitional opportunities for our lives. The ancient story of Job deals with such a crisis that, at least according to some scholars, led Job to a time of claiming the power of his own humanity in partnership with God.

I had a friend who was a pastoral counselor. He used to tell me that no one ever came to see him professionally because they wanted to grow. They came because they were in pain and they wanted the pain to stop! A few clients would continue, however, after the pain had lessened, and would work on their growth. It takes a lot of time and effort for most of us to know what we want in life beyond our immediate needs. Once those immediate needs are met and we are more comfortable, then the question begins to gnaw on us:  "What else is there?" With that incessant gnawing comes the Spirit's invitation to discover and commit to what is calling us - our passion, our work, our true joy.

I think I have always known what I wanted - what my passion is for life.

What I want for my life, my dream, is to be in touch with healing in my life and to be a source of healing for others through the words I write and speak -- through my presence and my listening to hold open space in which healing can be embraced. What I want for the Church is to live into its potential by embracing the healing of our limited vision of Christ and our often destructive history. I want my congregation to accept the call of the Spirit for our building to be a house of prayer for all people -- "like a healing stream in a barren desert" or "a gentle rain on a thirsty garden" moving "through our lives to coax a new creation." (Bruce Harding, "Like a Healing Stream," 2003) so that those who are hungry for healing will come to find the presence of the Spirit and find it through this community:  through our openness to all people, our willingness to ask and encourage challenging questions, and our embracing of differences of thought and perspective -- through hospitality and acceptance -- and in your faces and mine to see the face of Jesus.

I think I've always known this dream, but have been afraid to articulate and claim it as my own - afraid that some whose opinions I valued would not approve and afraid that the implications of living that way would be too costly. What I realize now is that I have far less to lose by living this way than by giving in to fear and social pressure. Here are some words that continue to inspire and challenge me:

You must give up everything in order to gain everything. What must you give up? All that is not truly you; all that you have chosen without choosing and value without evaluating, accepting because of someone else's judgment rather than your own; all you self-doubt that keeps you from trusting and loving yourself or other human beings. What will you gain? Only your own true self, a self who is at peace, who is able to truly love and be loved, and who understands who and what s/he is meant for. But you can be yourself only if you are no one else. You must give up "their" approval, whoever they are, and look to yourself for evaluation of success and failure in terms of your own level of aspiration that is consistent with your values. Nothing is simpler and nothing is more difficult. (Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Death: the Final Stage of Growth, 165)

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.
  
Jack Price

FYI - Jack has published several articles at: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jack_F_Price

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