A person is someone who must give all themselves to another person and who receives everything in return. – Brother Christian
To think I almost skipped Brother Christian’s talk. It fits so well with what I was writing about earlier – I want someone to give myself to, someone to receive from. I seek this, this definition of personhood, now through Christ – giving all of myself to Him, for He has given me all I am. And yet I desire this with another person as well. This does not diminish my relationship with Christ, but would amplify it, as other is in relationship with Him, too. The more love I give, the more I have to give. The danger here is focusing all my energy on finding the other to the detriment of my life with Christ. He must be primary. He must always come first. He must increase and I must decrease – not to nothingness, but to my proper place.
The Lilies
Hunting them, a man must sweat, bear
the whine of a mosquito in his ear
grow thirsty, tired, despair perhaps
of ever finding them, walk a long way.
He must give himself over to chance,
for they live beyond prediction.
He must give himself over to patience,
for they live beyond will. He must be led
along the hill as by a prayer.
If he finds them anywhere, he will find
a few, paired on their stalks,
at ease in the air as souls in bliss.
I found them here at first without hunting,
by grace, as all beauties are first found.
I have hunted and not found them here.
Found, unfound, they breathe their light
into the mind, year after year.Wendell Berry
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