Since I am busy writing my sermon for our college’s Christmas Convocation, I thought I would share a post written by my friend, Dr. Claire Colombo. Claire is the Director of the Center for Writing and Creative Expression at the Seminary of the Southwest. She’s also a beautiful writer who I met at the Beyond Walls conference at Kenyon College.
Claire’s post, “Shakespeare’s Atoms”, contemplates the science of how we humans emit atoms over the course of our lives. It made me pause to consider the implications of giving and not giving of ourselves. She writes:
We must choose to share what we make. We must choose to feed others. We must choose to labor in love.
We can also choose not to. On the micro level, when we don’t release the stuff of ourselves, that stuff becomes toxic. We get sick, we suffocate, we die. This happens on the macro level, too. When we hold on to “Shakespeare atoms” we no longer need—habits, beliefs, grudges, fears—we not only become less vital, but we deprive others of gifts only we can give. We deprive them of the “genius” (from gignere, “to beget”) of ourselves. And there’s nothing the “biosphere” loves more than transforming our depleted matter into new life for others. So why not give it a hand?
Give Claire’s post a read. It will likely make you stop to consider your self-giving too.
[Feature Image: Martin Moscosa]
Teri McDowell Ott 