Created to Relate

Last summer Kelly Wahlquist was a speaker at a women's conference at our diocesan retreat center. I enjoyed seeing glimpses into her story and the bends her life has taken - areas where she was called to trust greatly and step forward in faith and moments when the Holy Spirit gave her just the right words at just the right moment. While reading Created to Relate: God's Design for Peace and Joy, I recognized some familiar anecdotes from her talks at the conference, along with additional details and thinking that could not be captured within the time allotted for her talks. I enjoyed being able to have the combination of revisiting some of her thinking, while also having extensions on those thoughts. I could also picture her energetic personality sharing the stories.

The book focuses on relationship to God and to others. While exploring how women relate, Wahlquist made biblical connections to highlight how women are created and different examples of how that can look in different contexts. She gives examples of Lectio Divina and then scaffolds that process for readers, in order to consider implications from the Bible for our own lives.

In her acknowledgements I love that Wahlquist expresses gratitude for Jeff Cavins, saying, "for opening my heart to a deeper relationship with the Lord by introducing me to a love of Sacred Scripture; for recognizing a gift in me that I didn't know I had; for encouraging me to work in that gift; and for creating an opportunity for me to do so by hiring me to literally 'build relationships.'" (Loc 91-95). This made me think about my own journey, considering people and experiences that have helped me to grow closer to God, to love his Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments in his Church, to bring strengths to the surface and to reflect on how God would like to use them. Woven throughout the book is reflecting on individual journeys and discerning God's will for our lives, with examples from her life to understand how the process can work. There is attention to our universal call that unites us, as well as unique differences.

Her experiences resonated with me and helped me to reflect on my own life. I especially loved the layers of seeing how she grew in trust over time by being open to unexpected changes in her life, to the plans she had envisioned for herself. She gives authentic glimpses into all the emotions that can be wrapped up in the process of on-going discernment and trust through the different bends in life. As can be noted in her note of gratitude shared above, the book progresses naturally by thinking first about her relationship with God and then spanning out to how God can use her as an instrument in relating with others built on the foundation of relationship with him. She also shows how an on-going investment in relationship with God is critical throughout our lives. I enjoyed seeing more glimpses into Wahlquist's life and thinking through reading her book.