Being the Beloved:
stories of ongoing transformation in daily life
By Tamarah Lee, Spiritual Director
I brought Lectio Divina into my home school Lit classes this week. The students picked a “word to the wiser” from their stories and essays they’d read, and I walked them through a modified version of the ancient practice. Each class went in a different direction, but it was the group around my table that afternoon who left my heart the softest.
This group of Muslim girls picked a quote from a John Green essay entitled “The Yips” that said, “How can you regain confidence when you know that confidence is just a varnish painted atop human frailty?” Once I established that “varnish” is not the same as “garnish”—by pointing at my worn kitchen table—they dug in.
The third question in the Lectio process is, “Where do you see this in life?” As we came to this invitation they talked about social media, and how people online and people in real life can be unrecognizable as the same person. They offered thoughts such as:
“I want to make sure what’s under the varnish is real.”
“I want to present myself without varnish, so people see the authentic me from the beginning.”
“I don’t want to be the kind of person who scrapes the varnish off of people.”
I sat still for a moment and let all their words sink in. Not shabby, ladies, not shabby.
Even as I led these students through their literature exercise, I was walking the steps of the lectio myself. I’d had a hard class earlier in the day, with a student who has slashed deeply into my “varnish.” But, as I worked through the “metaphor step,” I was reminded that varnish could cover up something cheap, or highlight the brilliance of the wood it was there to protect.
I felt God’s tender voice say, “Your wood is good. Today hurt. But you are a kind, caring person, and a good teacher. Your wood is good.”
I’ve spent much of my life trying to make sure I am open to “constructive criticism” and learning how to listen for the truth in an attack and to not just brush aside hard words. Those skills have their merit. But today, today was letting the Divine say, “Your wood is good,” and basking in the truth of being beloved.
As the girls left, swathed in their hijabs, chattering about their upcoming finals, I paused to breathe and found myself absorbing the moment. I was reminded how versatile God is: reaching past religious differences, across cultural norms, into secular reading, to touch hearts with affirming truth. God’s wood is good, no matter the covering.
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