In Captain America: The First Avenger, we meet Steve Rogers before he becomes Captain America. He is a small, skinny, nobody who can not even get into the army because of asthma and other medical conditions. He tries and tries and tries.
We meet him after his fourth attempt to get into the army. After being denied he goes to a movie. Back then movies began, not with the slew of previews we are used to, but with something about the war happening in Europe. Through this news-reel there is a voice that keeps asking to “Start the movie.” This voice is disrespecting the soldiers who are fighting for their lives, for justice, for freedom.
Steve Rogers becomes so upset that he calls it out. We see him next getting pounded by the guy in the corner of a back alley. The line that Steve Rogers is known for throughout the many Captain America and Avengers movies is said for the first time: “I can do this all day.”
Each hit, each time he is knocked to the ground, he pops back up. He will not give up. Something inside him is driving him. Something we can not see.
“I can do this all day!”
That line has been reverberating around my heart and soul since last week, asking me one question: What is it in your life that brings forth this statement: “I can do this all day!”? What can I do all day?
I would like to say, fight for justice.
But the reality is:
eat chocolate
watch the beauty of the New Mexican skies
listen to the birds sing
Then there are the rough days when, if I am being truthful, what I can do all day is:
watching Netflix or Amazon Prime
numbing myself from the challenge, the struggle that is in front of me (whether it is spiritual, emotional, physical, civic, etc)
I admire the archetype of Steve Rogers, that inner confidence and strength that knows and can “do this all day!” in order to accomplish his soul purpose.
So I invited Spirit and my Soul to bring forth for me an answer: What can I do all day? What am I being invited, by my Soul, to ‘do all day…’ even when being beaten down for that action, belief?
What arose comes from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene’s Dialogue One: “It is for this reason that I told you to find contentment at the level of the heart, and if you are discouraged, take heart in the presence of the Image of your true nature. Those with ears, let them hear…” (Cynthia Bourgeault, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, chapter 4)
Those who have ears, let them hear…
The Image that Jesus is talking about is that purest, highest reflection of the Sacred that is in the center of the center of the center of our hearts. This Image is our Highest Selves, it is our Soul’s purpose.
As I sat with this: What can I do all day?
My Soul said, “Your Soul’s Purpose”
Why can Steve Rogers take being beaten up again and again, why say: “I can do this all day”? Because, as you watch his character develop through the many Marvel movies, you begin to notice that the Image that is Steve Rogers is one that has a greater purpose than himself. His Image invites him beyond himself to make a difference in the world. Over the arch of the movies he struggles with what that difference is, always being grounded in the moral center of Life, Compassion and Justice — the Image of the Sacred that shines forth from him and each of us.
What can I do all day? I can be a Beacon of Light that offers compassion.
When I sit with that, my heart, my soul, my whole being says:
I can do this all day!!!
What can you do all day?
What is your Soul purpose?
What is Spirit inviting you to do all day?
