a lot of people were raised to believe that they need needed to fix their weaknesses but their talents would take care of themselves*
(Mary Reckmeyer)

May you have the grace of encouragement
To awaken the gift in the other’s heart,
Building in them the confidence
To follow the call of the gift.**
(John O’Donohue)

We have the opportunity to be for others the space of encouragement they need to explore the height and depth and length of their possibility.

It is also the means by which we move into greater discovery because we realise we need to grow and become in order to be the place they need:

To the warrior, greatness is not the product of ego but of service. If you live for yourself, you can settle for less. If you live for others, it requires all of who you are.^

We don’t know all of who we are. At least I hope I don’t. This is a journey that may be never-ending, if we are prepared to make it:

It remains the dream of every life to realise itself, to reach out and lift oneself to greater heights. A life that continues to remain on the safe side if its own habits and repetitions, that never engages with the risk of its own possibility, remains an unlived life.^^

*From Mary Reckmeyer’s Strengths Based Parenting;
**From John O’Donohue’s Benedictus: For a New Position;
^From Erwin McManus’ The Way of the Warrior;
^^From John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us.