Give, Go, Be

Ellen Burstyn has long been one of my favorite actresses - ever since her role as the woman who could suddenly heal others in the film "Resurrection", a deeply moving film made in 1980 but which holds up perfectly over time. I saw her on television last night in a brief interview.

She was talking about her craft and said "If you do not express what is inside you, your personal gift, then the world will have to exist without ever feeling the benefit of that -- and also, if you do not express it, it will kill you."

It got me thinking -- what are the ways my denial of my own talents or gifts can hurt not only the world but me -- not only me but the world? I believe there is intent from God in gifting us with certain talents. His intent is that we should use them -- but I never had thought about the implications of not using them.

During seder, D, our seder master, asked us to think about the Israelites who had NOT gone into the Exodus with Moses - the Israelites who had stayed behind in Egypt, staying in slavery, never to experience the Promised Land, ruled by their fears. D. asked us to consider our own personal Egypts and to look at what keeps us from finding that place in life that we were meant to know.

That made me wonder about the fact that is everyone had been afraid to go, none would have found the Promised Land. Fear of expression, fear of movement, fear of finding and expressing our own true selves in the richness that God intended - we deny ourselves, those around us, the world and God's love when we hold back from giving and being all that God intends us to be.

Does this make sense? Talk to me about your Egypts and I will tell you of mine.