Room number 1: you are inside a room where the people with you are critical of what you do, how you think, and who you are. Most of us have been in this room. Take a moment and ponder how it feels to remember it. Perhaps you don’t have to remember it because you are in that room right now. Give yourself a moment. Breathe. Allow yourself to own the feelings of being in this kind of room, inside of these kinds of walls.
Room number 2: you are inside a room where the people with you accept you–what you do, how you think, and who you are. They understand that you may have made mistakes, taken wrong turns, been mislead. They nevertheless accept you while you learn from these wanderings of yours. In fact, they become the walls that shelter you while you lick your wounds, grieve, sleep off the pain, and begin to rise up to the insights that suffering, journeying and wandering gift to you. If you have been in this room, you are blessed. You know the gift of beloved community. You know the grace of pure, unmerited offering of those in your community.
If we find ourselves in the first room, we are in the room of witness. We witness what hurts, harms and hinders us from becoming our true selves. We have choices that arise from this witness which may include leaving this kind of room.
If we find ourselves in the second room, we are in the room of blessing. We are blessed by the shelter, the grace, and the gift of a community who sees who we are, what we have to offer and how to help us rise to our true selves. We can choose to allow ourselves to be nurtured in this community and offer what we receive to others who enter here. We can choose to become one of the sheltering walls that make this a room in the house called Beloved Community.
Bob Patrick
