Unbecoming
“The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
When we are born, we have a whole universe of choices that await us. Each day, our choices will guide us more and more toward the adults we are going to become. This is a rather frightening realization for many. If not frightening, it is at the very least filled with anxiety. What if we make the wrong choices? For that matter, what if we make the right choices? What are we going to become? Will people like us? Will they shun us?
Schweitzer reminds us that it is not just about becoming, though. It is also about unbecoming. Along the way, we may pick up things that we should not. We might develop bad habits. We might veer off the path and engage in reckless, dangerous, or bad practices. These could all lead us down a dark path that might eventually lead to our ruin. We need to avoid that completely. If we do not keep our guard up, we could easily go astray.
Thus, life is about balance. It is about choosing the good and it is also about shedding the bad. We need to practice the art of unbecoming, if you will, so that we can stay on the right path. The Church gives us opportunities to do that throughout the year, most especially the seasons of Advent and Lent. We are challenged to look deep within and see what we have become and then determine what must be rooted out of our lives so as to draw closer to God.
God loves us completely and unconditionally but that does not mean that God likes or approves of some of the things we do or some of the things we have become. He encourages us and gives us grace to unbecome. The penitential season of Lent most especially highlights that.
Don’t wait for Lent to come around. Look at yourself today and see if there are things that you have become that are not in line with God’s hopes for you. Do your best to unbecome so that you may be as close to God as possible.
FAITH ACTION: In your prayer today, make sure to ask God for the grace and courage that you need to step away from all that leads you away from Him.