9-12 Project: Reverence

Week 2 - Reverence

Highlighting the 12 Values from Glenn Beck's 9-12 Project

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

-Henry David Thoreau

What is reverence? It's showing extreme honor and respect for something or someone. It's having and showing a profound love and respect.

I found this beautifully written excerpt from Robert Morneau, Spiritual Direction - Principles and Practices. Reverence has been lost in our chaotic country. Reviving this virtue is key in bringing hope and prosperity back into our communities and lives.

"Living with reverence is an everyday challenge for all of us. It is so tempting to view our relationships with others in terms of how much we can get out of them, how useful they can be to us. When in business we look only at profit margins, with little concern for people, there is no reverence there. When we overpower the people with whom we live with our words and fail to listen to them, there is a lack of reverence. When we think that what we do to our bodies and what we do with our bodies is just our own private business, we have missed out on the meaning of reverence. When we stereotype all of the poor as freeloaders or “rif-raff,” we have lost a sense of reverence. When we ignore the sanctity of the life of another human being, whether it is a child in the womb or a person on death row, the virtue of reverence is missing. When we fail to appreciate the many gifts God has given us, including the gift of this earth, there is no reverence.

To live in reverence means to view life with a particular set of eyeglasses. Reverence enables us to respect and appreciate God, other people, and ourselves. This leads us to look at another person not as someone who can be useful to me, but as someone who deserves my respect. That other person is a mystery who stands before me, one who needs to be listened to, to be honored and respected even if I disagree with him or her. To live in reverence entails a particular approach to the gift of time, neither wasting time as if it had no meaning, nor rushing from one thing to the next. Reverence enables us to recognize particular moments in life that invite special attention and stepping back, like birth, death, pain, commitment, loss, victory. Reverence moves us to reflect on our patterns of consumption: to take what we need but not to live as if the whole world belonged to us or our worth were determined by how much we own. Reverence means that we learn to respect and appreciate ourselves, our intellect, our spirits, our bodies. To live in reverence means cultivating a sense of God’s presence, an awareness that God is with me at every moment and that he comes to meet me in the ordinary circumstances of my life. Reverence gives birth to hope, because it is based on a power greater than ourselves." (See Robert Morneau, Spiritual Direction, Crossroad Publishing, 101-109).

Be sure to stay tuned in for the NEW Cherish Bound 9-12 Project Journal that will be for sale soon....beautiful 5x5 hardcover journal to help you record your experiences and thoughts as you journey through the 9-12 Project. We're almost completed with the design phase and finishing up the final touches. Should be available soon!!