Looking inside to help outside

By Mia Pohlman

I have been thinking recently about the way the individual relates to the community, about how sometimes we need to ponder things ourselves and sometimes we need to ask for others' wisdom and experience.

Mary, Jesus' mother, lived the balance of this in her own life. Scripture cites her as one who pondered sacred events in her heart, allowing these happenings to abide within her as she treasured and conversed with God about them. There is a holy sense of mystery, wonder and awe that goes along with this pondering, a decision to make sure one is not casting their pearls before swine. There is a wordlessness, a sacredness in this that leads one into the depths of God and understanding. I love this.

It is this pondering with God and oneself that leads one into community. Through pondering, contemplation and prayer, one can come to know when it is time to move into community and allow others to be a part of something.

Through pondering things in her heart, Mary knew that this questioning, living and celebrating with others is important, too. She demonstrated this through her journey to visit Elizabeth when she found out Elizabeth also was unexpectedly pregnant. In the three months Mary remained with Elizabeth, I imagine there must have been a lot of laughter, questioning and discussion about the miracles occurring inside and through each of them. They drew strength from each other and helped each other in ways that wouldn't have been possible had they remained away from the other in their own hometowns. I am sure through each other they gained insight into the questions and happenings they kept for themselves in their most private and sacred of interior spaces.

Individual pondering and prayer leads us to a realization: I can't do everything by myself.

Priest and theologian Henri Nouwen said, "We are not called to save the world, solve all problems and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time."

I think through interior prayer, pondering and contemplation on our experiences with others, we can understand what our "unique call" is. Through this, we can be shown the people who have been placed in our lives whom we have been given to influence and love. It is then we can move into community and connect our gifts and spheres of influence with others, to create lasting change that is beyond anything we could imagine.