Questions?

Sometimes a question of great importance is asked of us.  When working with seniors on retreat last week, I channeled Mary Oliver and asked, “What is it that you plan to do with your one, wild and precious life?”
 
At turning points of significance: leaving school, graduation, deciding to get married, choosing a career, changing jobs, moments of profound loss or disillusionment, or that rare windfall of great opportunity, I have felt that life was asking an important question of me.  Discerning what exactly I being asked was the challenge.
 
Sometimes, asking the question, is what we are called to do.  In the ancient  Grail Myth, the hero, Parsifal’s task was to ask the question.  As a young man, he failed to ask and as a result, spent the rest of his life searching.
 
I like Krista Tippett’s assertion that “questions elicit answers in their likeness”.
 
I am continuing to think that this COVID moment, pivot, or turning point, is both asking significant questions of us, and providing us the opportunity to ask our own question. My question may be quite different to yours.
 
What is it? What is your question at this moment?  Asking it may define what’s next.

---