The Hero's Journey

Paul encouraged me to see this literal journey, and the vocation that God has for me, in the cycle of the hero's journey. Lorna found a great summary of the journey for me, and I had the idea to begin to reflect on the upcoming trip (less than 6 weeks away!) using this as my template. Reading it over has got me re-thinking my previous posts as well, looking at them with this in mind.

Departure - The first part of the hero's journey is "Departure". First comes the call to adventure, when "the person is first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not".

This happened at Don's Deli way back in October when the ladies were out for breakfast, and they suggested to me that my dream of going to Mexico could become real. I was shocked when I realized they were serious. It reconfigured reality for me. I had always thought someday I might go, but that I was too depressed/unorganized/loserish to get my act together enough. Yet here was the call to adventure. The thought "I can't pull this off" is what is called the "refusal of the call", where we limit what God has for us by a "range of reasons that work to hold the person in her current circumstances". For me, the reasons are always around insecurity and a sense of inadequacy. To think beyond these reasons was exciting and a bit disorienting. Life really has looked different with this reality in mind. It looks more bountiful, like the "cup running over" passage, but I have also been called out of my comfort zone. I might have said "I can't", but I have heard the refrain, "But God can". And by this I don't mean the literal journey only, but living within the bigger picture of the "Yes" in God.

The next stage in Departure are the guides and helpers that come once the hero has committed to the quest. I'd have to say that Paul was a very helpful guide when he asked, "But what does God want?" This was echoed that same week by the trainer guy who asked me, "How are you serving God with this trip?" That reconfigured everything. The answer to it was in my earlier posts.

The last stage in "Departure" is "The belly of the whale". On the diagram above it's called "Crossing the Threshold". The person here is transitioning between worlds and between selves, and it is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, something that is dark, unknown and frightening At first I thought this was when Karin (my administrator) was continually talking about the bottom line and got me wondering if I was crazy to think of going. But another thing I've been thinking of has been the things I've been worried about for the trip.

Basically, I'm worried about two things: whether I'll be healthy that week, and worried about navigating my way through airports and unfamiliar terrain. This has got me feeling vulnerable, but it has helped a lot to pray about these things and ask for God's help. I also remembered that in a way, I'm making the same trek as the butterflies - they are much more vulnerable than me but they are taken up by the wind and taken care of even despite a lot of odds against them. Since I'm seeing the life cycle of the monarch as "the gospel in a nutshell", this chance to rely on God and cast my worries on to Him seems like the golden opportunity to practice abiding in the vine.