Growing Something New: first steps on the journey

In out-of-the-way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

            -John O’Donohue [1] 

Olly, Olly, oxen free, Ready or Not, Here I Come!

                          

It seems that some new ventures flow easily into being, while others lie germinating within for an exceedingly long time.  They can be a source of exhilaration, or fraught with self-doubt manifesting as a sense of overwhelm and anxiety masquerading as busyness in the safe confines of daily life.  As the Irish poet and mystic John O’Donohue points out, sometimes “there is something deep in us that conspires with what wants to remain within safe boundaries and stay the same.” [2]   My journey to launching this blog certainly fits this latter experience.  There seems so much to learn, many technical details to master, so many questions to live with rather than answer before publishing:  Does it look right (clean and easy to navigate, but beautiful and inspiring as well), Will I be able to produce content in the type of regular pattern that will keep readers engaged, What if nobody reads it, What if people disagree with what I write or the way the site looks? 

Of course, the last questions get to the heart of it, don’t they?  It is the risk of being seen, of being authentic and vulnerable that is the most daunting, but also the most important to face.  In the end, I am writing for the Divine who pours out gifts (graces) every day, every moment, with every breath I have been given.  My hope in producing this blog is to inspire, but I recognize and accept that some things may challenge readers as well.  I am neither a theologian or philosopher by training, but I read and think just enough to be dangerous. So I thank you for your patience, your compassionate understanding, and willingness to witness God knows what (literally!). In the end it is time now to risk “failure” to find success, to let my fumbling lead to grace, with lessons to be learned and growth to germinate; it is time to begin.

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[1] “For New Beginnings”;To Bless the Space between Us: a Book of Blessings, by John O’Donohue, Doubleday, 2008, p.14.

[2] Ibid, p.3.