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“My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me."—PSALM 22:14 (NLT)

Reflect
I like to describe agency (our ability to act in our lives) as something limited. We are not superhuman (and if you are, I have some requests). This goes against our culture’s imagination that EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU JUST BELIEVE. Sorry, Deborah. Everything is certainly not possible. You alone cannot cure terminal illnesses. You alone
cannot solve world hunger. We can barely make it through our regular days without facing impossible odds. So what if,
instead, we start imagining our agency in smaller and smaller pieces. What small decision can you make today? How will you spend your precious energy? Who do you need to reach out to this afternoon? What chore can you leave for tomorrow? We all face very real limitations—limited time, limited energy, limited resources, limited emotional bandwidth, and (if we’re being really honest) limited days. How will you live within all of that beautiful, limited humanity?

Respond
Even if we don’t realize it, our whole lives are made up of small decisions in the face of our limitations. We may not be able to do everything, but we can make small decisions about what is important to us. What small decision can you make today that feels realistic?

Blessing for the courage to try…and the wisdom to know when to stop

Blessed are you, faced with the impossible.
You who do not look away
from what threatens to swallow you whole.
You who stare down reality,
though your heart quickens.
You for whom action comes swiftly,
as you chart the next step
or bulldoze a new path for yourself.
You know to turn hope into action.
And bless you for it.

Blessed are you who, when you’ve come
to the end of what’s possible,
find the courage to live there too.
Accepting what cannot be changed.
And finding that beauty and meaning
and love live there too.

You know how it feels to be
held together by so many loves…
by so much to lose.

Blessed are we who are learning to hope.
And how to let go.
When to act.
And when to stop.
Holding together two irreconcilable truths:
that our lives are so valuable
precisely because we have much to fear
with much to love.22

22 Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. “For the Courage to Try.. and the Wisdom to Know When to Stop” in The Lives We
Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. (New York: Convergent Books, 2023). 72-73.

© KateBowler.com