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| The Mystery within... |
My December 5, 2016 blog titled “The Gift of Seeing” opened
with a quote from Teilhard de Chardin, “The whole of life lies in the verb
seeing.” After finishing reading Isabel
Wilkerson’s descriptions of the plainspoken Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, one of the
three protagonists in Wilkerson’s book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” my heart
was better informed about spiritual success.
Of Ida Mae she wrote:
“She had a way of looking past the outer layer of people and
seemed to regard everyone she met with a kind of searching intensity, as if
this were the first person she had ever seen.”
“She was too good natured to waste energy disliking them no
matter what they did but looked upon them as a curiosity she might never
comprehend. She learned to give them the
benefit of the doubt but not be surprised at anything involving them. This alone probably added decades to her
life.”
When Ida Mae heard someone complaining about a rainy day she
responded:
“Now we ain’t got nothing to do with God’s business, she
says, sitting back in her seat. She
adjusts herself and straightens her scarf, contenting herself with whatever the
day has in store.”
“She lived in the moment, surrendered to whatever the day
presented, and remained her true, original self. Her success was spiritual, perhaps the
hardest to achieve. And because of that,
she was the happiest and lived the longest of them all.”
It is an awesome challenge to live in the moment; accepting
whatever the day presents; while remaining true to myself. Looking past the outer layer of people and
regarding everyone with a searching intensity, seeing them as a curiosity I
might never comprehend sheds light on accepting the other. Ida Mae strikes me as the master in reframing
what is for spiritual success.
What if we could reframe what is for spiritual success more
often?
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