Originally published at Ignatian Spirituality
In 2024, God invited me to be bold. When I started the year, I thought that the invitation to be bold was about taking audacious steps out of my comfort zone. And in some ways, it was. After all, being bold led me to say many courageous yeses over the last 12 months, including one to fly to Indonesia in the service of the mission of Jesuit schools.
But despite the amazing blessings that came from these bold steps, I discovered over time that the invitation to be bold was less about each individual step out of my comfort zone and more about God inviting me to do whatever was necessary to accept fully the person God created me to be. It was about taking the bold chances that helped me recognize, appreciate, and develop the unique gifts God gave me so that I might offer those gifts courageously in service of others. The invitation to be bold awakened in me a deeper love for myself and for God as well as an insatiable desire to go all in to wherever God was inviting me to go.
My living into this invitation had its drawbacks, though. I found myself over
