What Are You For?

What are you for?  This question has been bouncing around in my head.   I started thinking about this question because it is all too easy to define ourselves and others by what we are against. It is a question of energy. Is the energy that we put into the world a for (positive) energy or an against (negative) energy?   As I consider this in my own life, I’ve had to realize that too often my for is really a thinly disguised against. I am for this because I am actually more against that.   What are you for?  I like to think of being for as a wide, spacious, generous place to be. If we are fully in the for mindset there isn’t room for against. The people that I know that are truly FOR people are generous, kind, spacious; they aren’t easily offended when people don’t share the same for. They are so joyful in their for that there isn’t the energy to waste in an against. I think the most passionate for people have a compelling vision of the impact of their for, that they won’t be bothered investing in against because the vision of what can be is so powerful they would rather work for than against. What are you for? Are you more FOR it or are you against its opposite? In my advent reading this morning I read these words by Richard Rohr, “a person becomes a mirror image of anything if he opposes it in kind.” We’ve all seen this happen.  What are you for? What are you passionate about? I’ve been challenged this week to be bolder in standing with the things that I’m for. A silent for isn’t a very powerful for, and we have to question if that’s the most important for? A question that compliments what are you for is what one or two things are absolutely necessary? When we can answer what is necessary we have more information about the for of our lives.   What are you for? The world now more than ever needs people who are putting positive for energy into the world. The more that we can put together, the more that we can “forgive” and allow, the more we can include and enjoy, the more we tend to be living in the Spirit. The more we need to reject, oppose, deny, exclude, and eliminate, the more open we are to negative and destructive voices and to our own worst instincts. Richard Rohr in Preparing for Christmas If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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