Have You Surprised Yourself Lately?: A Spiritual Practice

Driving my kids back to Tennessee from my rowdy and fun family's 65th reunion in Pennsylvania several weeks ago, I asked my kids to tell me about their favorite moments of our trip.

My shy 10-year-old daughter said, "Well, my favorite thing is that I surprised myself...I actually carried on conversations with people!  I was even funny.  AND, I surprised myself because I actually enjoyed it!"

Her surprise was met by my own, for I was not only overjoyed but completely caught off-guard, not expecting to hear this out of my quiet, catlike girl, especially not as her favorite part of the trip!  It was a good reminder of how we often pigeonhole ourselves and others.  

The term "pigeonhole" was first used in 1864 to describe placing a person or thing in a narrow or confined category that resembles a literal hole a pigeon roosts in.  As you can imagine and see from the picture, the borders of the pigeonholes tend to be pretty rigid so it's up to the one roosting to leave the safety of the confined space.   

Speaking from experience, we often let our expectations keep us from discovering and entering into the "new thing" the Spirit of God is inviting us to discover, whether it be within or without. Instead we keep rehearsing (& posting) old stories and viewpoints.  A look over our social media posts or reflecting on recent conversations inside our heads or with others can reveal a pigeonhole or two we roost in.  
 
But might our continued pigeonholing be fear in disguise?  For once we venture outside a particular pigeonhole we can no longer dwell within that hole again. After my daughter said she surprised herself by enjoying a conversation, she can no longer claim she's too shy to carry on a conversation (or enjoy doing so)!  

Bursting out of the pigeonhole takes courage...what a beautiful spiritual practice she invited me (and now you) into!  Let's try it:
   
*  Take a moment and look at the above pigeonholes.  Maybe even sketch them out and put a word in each box that you would use to describe yourself (begin with yourself then branch out to another person or situation).  

*  Now let the below words from Isaiah 43 or II Corinthians 5 blow through your pigeonholes.  
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?"  

"...we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!"

*  Whether experienced as a gentle breeze or wild wind, stay with it for a few moments.  Notice which words are being ruffled.  You may experience this as a feeling of resistance or fear around a particular word, you may have immediate knowledge as to which word is being blown forward, or you may be more visual and imagine how the words are affected.

*  Is there a particular pigeonhole you're being invited to step out of?  Write it down, pray, and tell someone!   This will help you spread your wings and fly, carried by the currents of the Ruach, the Holy Wind.  And, you may even find, much to your surprise, you enjoy it!

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