I have a secret--in my deepest heart, I want to be a saint. I want to love others without counting the cost. I want to listen without judgment. I want to be present to the beauty and pain of this world without hiding.
Photo by Kristin Snippe on Unsplash
I have another secret--in my deepest heart, I also know I'm a slacker. The dictionary defines slacker as someone who evades their duties and responsibilities. And for sure, that is me. Not the everyday duties and responsibilities, I'm pretty Type A, so those get done. Yet the deeper work....that is what I tend to slack over. I'll put in my X minutes of prayer, but I don't go very deep. Or I'll do a small fast, but I'll end it for any excuse, avoiding sustained hunger, avoiding discomfort.
And yet, I'm a slacker in a different, more positive way too--in the way that Linkletter defines it, as those who may seem to be out of the mainstream, rejecting the rewards of society, but "who are ultimately being responsible to themselves and not wasting their time in a realm of activity that has nothing to do with who they are or what they might be ultimately striving for” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacker_(film)
So, I have coined the term "SlackerSaints" to describe those of us who want to be saints and yet who are kind of slackers. Yet since we are also "Slackers" in the Linkletter sense, we are seeking a nontraditional path forward, outside of the mainstream.
What do you think? Is Saint too outdated? Is Slacker too pejorative? Whatever we call ourselves, let’s start a revolution to set the world on fire with love, passion, integrity, authenticity, truth, delight, and wonder. I’m in. Are you?
I like the idea of reclaiming the word saint from its popular meaning, which I think is more or less someone who puts up with a lot of misery and possibly bad treatment without complaining or doing anything about it (e.g., "She's a saint for staying married to X for so long"). Its original meaning of holy is a beautiful aspiration, a daily practice of unconditional love in action.
I tend to say “ I want to embody unconditional love no matter what” but Saint seems to sum that up nicely 😆