This Week’s Habit of the Heart: An Ability to Hold Tension in Life-Giving Ways
Our biblical text this week will be Mark 6.30-44. Read this story of abundance and to hold an image you receive as you move through your week.
“An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways: Our inner and outer lives are filled with contradictions—from the gap between our own behavior and our aspirations to the information and ideas we cannot abide because they run counter to our convictions. If we fail to hold them creatively, the non-stop contradictions of our lives will frighten and paralyze us and take us out of the action. But when we learn to hold them in a heart-opening way, they may open us to new ways of understanding ourselves and the world, enhancing our lives and allowing us to enhance the lives of others. We are imperfect and broken beings who live out our lives in an imperfect and broken world. The genius of the human heart lies in its capacity to hold tension in ways that energize and draw us forward instead of tearing us apart.” (Parker Palmer, Healing the Heart of Democracy)
What are the most successful ways you have experienced others managing this tension? Consider making time in your week to seek out a person who you believe holds wisdom around this Habit of the Heart and have invite that person to talk with you.
The questions for our series on Healing the Heart of Democracy are slightly adapted from The Center for Courage & Renewal’s online study guide for Healing the Heart of Democracy. Learn more about The Center for Courage & Renewal and their important work here.
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