which means both limits and potentials. We can learn as
much about our nature by running into our limits as by
experiencing our potentials. That, I think, is what Ruth and
life were trying to teach the.
It would be nice if our limits did not reveal themselves in
such embarrassing ways as getting fired from a job. But if
you are like me and don't readily admit your limits,
embarrassment may be the only way to get your attention. I
go on full alert only when I am blocked or get derailed or
flat-out fail. Then, finally, I may be forced to face my nature
and find out whether I can make something of both my gifts
and my limitations.
It is important to distinguish between two kinds of
limitations: those that come with selfhood and those that are
imposed by people or political forces hell-bent on keeping
us "in our place." I do not ask everyone who gets fired to
conclude that it was the work of a gracious God offering
clues to one's true vocation. Sometimes it is the work of a
pathological boss or a corporate culture, getting rid of
people whose propensity for truth-telling threatens the status
quo. Sometimes it is the result of an economic system that
robs the poor of their jobs so that the rich can get richer still.
Like everything else in the spiritual life, getting guidance
from way closing requires thoughtful discernment.
Our problem as Americans-at least, among my race and
gender-is that we resist the very idea of limits, regarding
limits of all sorts as temporary and regrettable impositions