Exodus 3:13-14 (Darby Translation) “And Moses said to God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.”
I am … asking you to consider an Advent meditation or prayer on this enigmatic scripture about existence: “I am that I am.” Whose birth (or coming into being) do we celebrate each Christmas? How did each of us become our own “I am” or self? Wasn’t love an essential ingredient?
Becoming fully human is dependent on mothering love —nurturing from a host of devoted adorers you embraced as an infant. (Just watch a little baby pull you in!) Those were I–Thou relationships, sustained in the spirit and mind of an “I” who is helping another “I” become.
Maybe, even now, when your partner ignores you or doesn’t “get” what you say, you feel a bit empty, a brief rift in my “I” relating to another “I.” The love which nurtured us, which we still crave, is between two subjects, two “I ams.” Now, how are you coming into being in this moment? Nudge it along by coming into relation with a Thou, with another “I.” To get started, try the prayer, the mantra: “I am. Thou art. We are.”
—Mark Leifeste
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