A Lighter Way Week 17: Coming Home to the Self
Sep 12, 2026Mercy endures forever ~ that which you lost is, and will continue to be, found!
I am coming to appreciate Jesus’ use of parables ever more fully these days. The words offered are a pricking of both my mind and heart - an invitation to observe, to wonder, to open up and discover the Reality of Love. Losing a sheep and going out to find it. Losing a coin and tearing up the house to find it. Losing a son and having to wait till he hits rock bottom to find his way home. And then the rejoicing over what has been found again!!! Love finds a way.
When I was twenty in a crisis of faith and meaning, I demanded God show me the purpose of my life. I was not prepared for Their answer to my tantrum as I was clearly led to the story of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel. “Ha! Ha! Very funny God! I think I’m done then,” was my response. But over the years and decades since the revelation the meaning has been being revealed - mostly slowly, sometimes in exciting spurts of Wow! moments. Over the decades, I have repeatedly been brought back to look out over the proverbial Valley of Dry Bones and call what was lost back to Life. The beautifully frustrating process of allowing the parable within the story to call me home to my True Self. Calling me to witness how I lose or abandon the Truth of Who I Am as I so often get stuck in what I do, who I am in relation to others, to things, and within the culture and expectations which surround me. In Understanding the Enneagram (364), Don Riso said, “When we are lost in personality, it is not surprising that we often feel powerless, confused, and unsafe because we are basing our identity on an artificial construct.” In other words, we have lost contact with our True Nature - a bit of our Essence has been lost, abandoned, forgotten - and feel that loss to the very core of our being, even when we are not yet conscious of it.
I am really feeling this deeply in my body as we settle into our new home. Most of my well-loved belongings have been in storage for almost five months, with some of them boxed away for almost two years. With each box I open, there is another welcoming, as if an old friend or buried treasure has been found again! There is both rejoicing and often remembering the stories of who gifted this and the circumstances of when that one special treasure joined me in my journey. I am physically in the midst of searching for and finding what I need, what I want, and the treasures that were “lost” to me all those months or years. There are also times of having to let go of things that we simply do not have room for in our downsizing. It is both exhausting and exhilarating and requires a great deal of perseverance and hope and faith - and the space to remember to rejoice over each of my “findings” and the much needed releasing.
This is true in my Spirit and soul as well. I have frequently lost mySelf in the doing of how to be a good guest, how to fit in others’ schedules and routines, how to manage my “reality” of being without a home. I have often found myself forgetting to simply BE at home in myself wherever I was. I all too quickly forgot my own need for routine and ritual and grounding. I forget and lose mySelf for a time - this has been a frequent part of my story.
“Recognize, search for, and find the parts of “I” that were lost, were abandoned and forgotten; They long to come home,” is the message of these parables for me. It is an ongoing and perpetual way of Being and Becoming, led by mercy - deep, faithful love and loyal commitment - as I continue to come Home and learn to love all the parts of mySelf calling me to remember and hold to a practice of rejoicing that deepens my capacity for genuine gratitude.
Practice
Take a moment to breathe deeply, to pay attention to your Self, your body, your surroundings and allow curiosity to rise … Where is Love seeking you?
Where do I see/sense/feel an invitation to wonder, to observe, to open up, to discover the Reality of Love in/for my Self, my loved ones, my world?
Do I love every little aspect of my Life - from the smallest details of my vocation and calling, to the integrity how I deal with others and situations, to how I value each of those with whom I am in relationship?
Let mercy wash over you when you find areas of hurt, pain, and loss - embracing each as a valued part of your story.
Remember to rejoice over what you find, nurturing a deep sense of gratitude for the love Life offers you.
Blessing
May you be found drenched in wonder.
May you be found immersed in observation.
May you be found beautifully broken open.
May you be found seeking what you have lost.
May You be found by Love - becoming ever more wHoly yourSelf.
Dayenu.
This seventeenth reflection is by Lauree Morris, graduate of WTC's School of Spiritual Direction.
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