Our first experience of authority, care, and obligation is not chosen.
It comes through parents, guardians, or those who stand in their place, long before we can assess or process the shape of it.
Whether those relationships are steady or strained, they shape how we learn to belong — or how we learn that we do not.
When those early formations are left untouched, other loyalties tend to move in.
They are often clearer, louder, and more demanding than the ones that formed us first.
Belonging becomes easier to recognise, but harder to examine.
Over time, identity can drift toward whatever offers the least resistance.
Clarity begins to stand in for truth, and confidence for character, even when what attracts us narrows rather than deepens who we become.
Not all forms of belonging form us in the same way.
Some claim us quickly and loudly, asking little more than agreement or loyalty.
Others work slowly, shaping judgment rather than bypassing it.
The authority that forms a person over time is often quieter than the authority that gathers a crowd.
Where have you experienced authority that formed you slowly, and where have you been claimed more quickly than you could examine?
Texts for thiis Week
Catholic lectionary — Holy Family Sunday
- Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14
- Psalm 128:1–5
- Colossians 3:12–21
- Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23
Anglican lectionary — Sunday after Christmas
- Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3 (or 1 Samuel 1:20–28)
- Psalm 148 (or Psalm 84)
- Galatians 4:4–7
- John 1:1–18
Toward The Good 