The Spirit And The Zebra

Good morning…

One of the most beautiful parts of my work as Women’s Ministry Director is watching the Spirit of God rise up and take form in the life of ordinary people. One woman, who has come to our semester book studies for years, has followed the Spirit’s lead through a difficult divorce, through moving homes twice, through graduating children, and through trying to discern with God her life calling, the place where her deep gladness meets a deep hunger in our hurting world.

A quote that will always remind me of my friend is one from Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection:

“People may call what happens at midlife ‘a crisis,’ but it’s not. It’s an unraveling – a time when you feel a desperate pull to live the life you want to live, not the one you’re ‘supposed’ to live. The unraveling is a time when you are challenged by the universe to let go of who you think you are supposed to be and to embrace who you are.” (xiii)

The word unravel reminds me of this friend, not only because she tattooed this word upon her wrist but also because I have been privileged to witness God unraveling her from inside out. Hard questions. Exhausting tears. Incessant prayers. Deep conversations. Life-giving Scriptures. Important book quotes. Texts, phone calls, and regular visits. Over the years, I have been a witness to God unveiling her true stripes.

When my friend came for a walk and talk last week, I had handwritten for her a note of encouragement. For some random reason, I chose to write in the blank zebra card above. Seeing the image, her sparkly eyes smiled with surprise, “Do you know about me and zebras?”

Of course I did not know about her and zebras, but God did. The Spirit of God had quietly coaxed me to choose this zebra card without my understanding. As my friend used our guest bath before our walk, I felt the Spirit nudge me to gather from my closet a fun zebra shirt I had randomly picked up at Goodwill a few weeks earlier. I quickly wrapped it in polka dotted paper and quietly slipped it into my friend’s purse.

During our soul-filling walk and talk, this beautiful middle aged woman shared that the image of a zebra often comes to her in her dreams when she is needing peaceful guidance. Researching the symbolism of zebras, she has learned that, unlike horses who are pack animals, zebras are known for their independence. Zebras are masters at balancing instinct and intellect, they live as a spiritual symbol of knowing your true self, and they embody the art of blending opposites to bring into clarity new levels of unity.

Zebras seem magically whimsical to me, and, in contrast, the process of spiritual discernment is really deep, drawn out, difficult. Over time, I have witnessed such authentic joy rising out of such painful sorrow. What a perfect animal to symbolize the growth I have seen in my friend as she continues to relax into the beautifully true stripes.