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| Elma Walsh Photo courtesy of Neil Craigan |
At the beginning of this year's 4 Corners Festival I sought to process what was happening with daily blog posts/journals. But come Tuesday night/Wednesday morning my good intentions started to unravel... There have been a number of significant challenges behind the scenes to negotiate this year, and given other frustrations with my "day job" on Tuesday, by the time that I got to the evening event my energy levels were beginning to flag a little...
But within a short period of time my challenges and grumbles were put into stark perspective by the attitude of and story told by Elma Walsh, mother of the subject of the event "DONAL WALSH: A STORY OF HOPE..." I (like, I suspect, many across Belfast), was not very familiar with the story of Donal, a Kerry teenager who came to prominence through his writings while battling what turned out to be terminal cancer, subsequently appearing on Brendan O’Connor’s ‘The Saturday Night Show’ and offering a life-affirming anti-suicide message, which continues to be promoted by the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation set up by his family.
Not only was Donal's story inspiring, but so was Elma herself, who had driven 5 hours from Kerry to join us.
But right at the heart of her talk she said:
"Growth starts at the edge of our comfort zone...”
This clearly resonated with Father Martin Magill (who tweeted it out straight afterwards - be very careful what you say when he is in the room) and others as much as it did with me, and was very much in tune with a festival which encourages people to get out of our own familiar comfortable corners to explore new geographical and conceptual spaces...
It was lovely for me that this event actually took place in Forthspring, having been moved there late on because of problems with the proposed venue. Not only is Forthspring literally on the edge of many people's comfort zones, because the longest Belfast "peacewall" actually runs straight through the premises, but it also played a major in my own psychological, theological, spiritual and political growth, as I was stationed there for 5 years as minister of Springfield Road Methodist, one of the founding partners of Forthspring.
However, you cannot live "on the edge" forever...
In order to grow in a sustainable way we need to establish a rhythm where we push ourselves beyond our comfort zones, then step back to regroup, rest and reflect before pushing on again. It's a practice we seriously Jesus modelling in the gospels, taking regular "time-out" for prayer, taking his disciples away from the centre of the action from time to time, before moving on. But it is a principle and a practice that I didn't take on board adequately in my own time at Forthspring. Indeed I took some of my bad practice into my next station and paid the price with a bad case of burnout.
This principle is as true for communities as it is for individuals and small groups. Growth demands that we go beyond what is comfortable, but that we also take time to regroup and reflect.
The festival is over now, and I, and I suspect a few of my colleagues are taking things at a slower pace for a day or two... at least until Lent begins on Wednesday. In that time I will be reflecting further on where I have grown and seen others grow in the past week and where I need to push beyond my comfort zone in the next wee while.
As I do so I will continue to be challenged by the questions posed by the late Mary Oliver, which my late friend Glenn frequently quoted, and which I think the late Donal Walsh would have approved:
| "Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? |
| Tell me, what is it you plan to do |
| With your one wild and precious life?" Selah |
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