Hello. Again.

Become who you are. You can start today.

Hello there.

Without really intending to, I took a break from posting on social media or writing anything for public consumption, including this newsletter. I’m not going to lie, it’s been lovely to get really, really quiet. After all, there is so much noise these days. Do folks really need me banging on?

For years, I preached sermons, taught classes, wrote some books, and generally did a lot of creating—all of which I enjoyed. For a while now, however, my focus has been on my private psychotherapy practice. Consequently, my creative energies have been devoted to my clients, whom I adore. In all sincerity, I wake up (most days) and can’t believe I get to do what I do for a living. This will not change. I am, however, ready to write and teach again.

So, how about a story?

On his deathbed, the great Rabbi Zusya began to weep. This confused his students, who wanted to comfort him. They said, “Rabbi, why do you weep? You are almost as wise as Moses, you are almost as hospitable as Abraham, and surely heaven will judge you favorably.”

Zusya answered them: “I’m not worried if God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Abraham?’ or ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Moses?’  I can answer those questions.  After all, I was not given the righteousness of Abraham or the faith of Moses but I tried to be both hospitable and thoughtful.  I’m worried about what to say when God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Zusya?’”

Why were you not more like Zusya?

Packs a punch, right?

In our age of comparison—where almost everyone is seized by the anxiety of not being enough—imagine the peace of simply becoming one’s own self?

The great theologian Howard Thurman put it this way: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Centuries before Thurman, St. Irenaeus said it this way, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

One practice I use for becoming myself is to allow myself to do that which I love. It’s why I’m writing to you today. I want to become myself. Yes, there is a lot of noise these days. That doesn’t mean I should let myself off the hook and fail to become who I am—Ryan."

Who will you become today? I hope you’ll grant space to become who you were always meant to be.

Peace and Love.