The Key to Peace

    "Only here do I feel fully human.  And only what is authentically human is fit to be offered to God."  Back in 1989, I was separated from my first wife, and I was seeing a therapist.  She asked me where I felt most comfortable.  I didn't quite understand what she was getting at.  I told her that I was most comfortable on my couch, at the end where I liked to curl up to read.  She asked me if there was any other place where I felt most like myself.  Then, I began to get what she was after.  With little hesitation, I told her that whenever I stepped onto a college campus, I felt at home, as if the tensions of the world ceased to exist for me, and I felt more comfortable and at ease than in any other place. 
    I have lost a little of that feeling this semester, that feeling of sanctuary, of belonging and peace.  I have carried some of my losses, my grief and my sadness with me into the university and I find myself scrambling to relieve the stress of the business of life, the appointments, the general sense of being chased from one thing to another. 
    Today  I sat in on the inaugural meeting of the Mission Integration Council, an advisory body that has been formed by our President from a group of faculty, staff, board members, and students.  There are about twenty or so of us.  We were asked to reflect on our first impressions on accepting the invitation to join the council, perhaps as our President stated to reflect on our hopes.  I was most keenly aware that my acceptance signified my continued willingness to be open to change, however that process might occur.  Since 1989, I have been on this path, this road in which I have  been open to the movement of my heart's interests, to follow those interests to their ends, and to hope and trust that the actions I take to honor those interests will reflect the will of God in my life.  If I have a hope, perhaps that is the best way to describe my faith, it is to be true to myself, and that will have to be sufficient, it is all that I have to offer to God.
   Maybe I should also try walking around barefooted.