Thecla was a name I had never heard until I read Meggan Watterson’s book, Mary Magdalene Revealed, but it is a story I am very familiar with. It’s a story that regularly appears in my own life and in the lives of many women I know. It’s about ending the long search for someone else to save, love, heal, or complete us and finally doing it for ourselves. The story of Thecla reveals a truth we don’t quite believe yet, that no one can give us what we’re looking for except ourselves. In the end it’s up to us to follow up on what we need, pursue what makes us happy, and uncover our authentic self residing within. No one can do the work for us and no one knows what’s better for us than us.

We end up looking to others to solve our problems because it’s easier, it’s hard to trust in our own power of insight and discernment. We think everyone else knows more than we do. Just the other night my good friend came by and asked if I knew of someone who could help her with a problem she was having or a book that would give her the answer she was looking for. But as I listened to her grasping for clarity I could see the answer was already inside of her. She already knew what she needed and how to proceed, she just hadn’t realized it yet. Somehow we miss the answers that are staring us in the face every time. Maybe we think it couldn’t be that simple or that we need a degree or specialized training to know what we should do next. But the truth is our soul knows the way, what we know and need is already inside of us, and all that remains is to summon the clarity and courage to follow it.

As it turns out all my friend needed was some time and space to let her answer reveal itself, which by the way it did. It came as we sat quietly in front of a bonfire while the full moon rose in the sky. Nature and her rhythms can reveal a tremendous amount of hidden information if we take the time to pay more attention.

In the end Thecla stops waiting for another to give her what she wants most, baptism, and just does it for herself. It’s what saves her, both literally and metaphorically. It is the same for us when we stop waiting on another and finally give ourselves what we need the most. This is how we save our own lives, we begin taking responsibility for living them.

What are the answers you already hold inside that want to be lived out loud?

kb