So, this morning I am struck by the Serenity prayer; especially the part about acceptance of others with love. Okay, that is only in my version. Accepting my powerlessness implies strongly that I accept others not as competitors but rather as co-workers, cooperating partners. I realize that I see the world this way unless I am confident of my own status. But God asks us to pray for our enemies, our competitors. I need new glasses to see this truth. So, my attitude today is to be accepting of others as cooperating partners rather than competitors. My seminary experience would have been so different if I had seen this then.
Seeing others as competition blocks most chances for cooperation and friendship. Yet there is another aspect of this as well. I'm always worried that I'll be see as a fraud if I don't know everything. That attitude does not help with networking. These things keep me isolated and they ultimately hurt me. They also deprive others of the contributions I can make. This is something I need to keep in the forefront of my mind.
There is a question here. What are we cooperating in or working toward? How are my goals the same or different from those of the community? How can I find out? Well, I can start by going to the participatory budgeting meeting tomorrow and seeing what happens. I can only know who my gold coins are when I know my end goal.
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