Hong Kong’s spectacular visual nature – her green mountains meshing with her incredible skyscrapers – struck me first, but I’ll always remember my time there for the way my heart grew beyond my personal limits.
After a month in Taiwan, we had the privilege of being the first Action for Life program invited to make a presentation at a university. It was an electric session dedicated to the theme of “personal change”. I had the opportunity to tell a story about rebuilding a relationship that had nearly collapsed. While I spoke the words, I felt fresh and alive and I gave to the students with a sense of freedom and hope.
At that point, I couldn’t identify the feeling, but later in the week I took a day in silent reflection to climb the mountain behind our hostel. As I reached the summit, I sat down on an outcropping of rocks and listened to my heart beat, my lungs breathe and felt the blood pulsing through my body. My spirit of gratitude for a well-working body quickly met an overwhelming and quite unexpected feeling of love.
Looking over the massive cityscape, I realized that I had a deep love for my team. For all of their talents and faults, their difficult parts and the easy parts, I loved each of them. I’d never experienced a sense of love in such a generous way. Most remarkably, I realized that the love came from a different source. This was no longer the labor of my own will to care for my teammates, but I felt as though I was now drawing on a much deeper and enduring spiritual strength.
Like a blend of freedom and joy, the core within me stirred deeply. Liberation, not for its own sake, but with a purpose. And not of my own will, but of something far beyond it. Less than a self-absorbed victory and more like riding on a golden chariot carried by streaking and beautiful steeds. Just less of me. More of everyone and everything else. Filled with the great depth. And released.
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