[saymaListserv] Quaker in Training

[Steve Livingston]

Your question, Susan, is one of those that I find fundamental to 
progress along my spiritual journey, and indeed central to making any 
headway at all for a community of Friends as well as for the larger and 
more diverse communities in our world. I find I am unwilling to bide my 
time until I have achieved some predetermined level of personal 
perfection before I begin to participate in efforts to improve these 
circles of communities. I can only hope that I am honest enough about my 
own shortcomings, and able to convey my imperfect state with humility 
but not self-effacement, so that I don't appear to be too much of a 
hypocrite when I am also honest about the shortcomings of my fellow 
travelers.

Recognizing and naming my own deficiencies makes it easier to accept 
what I may see lacking in others and still be able to love and respect 
them. I hope it also tempers my observations and colors my actions so 
that others can more easily accept me. At the core of any real progress 
in my communities, I believe, is this willingness to accept and embrace 
one another "where we are", even as we endeavor to move on to a 
different place.

Steve