19. That was the number of years Teresa of Avila had a spiritual dry spell. Teresa was a sixteenth century nun who was later canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. She wrote one of the most significant books in the spiritual history of the Christian church. Called The Interior Castle, it lays out a beautiful description of the inner workings of the soul. In a day and age when women were relegated to powerless roles, Teresa found a way to make her mark as she founded many convents and them helped keep them afloat. But for nineteen long years her prayer life was barren. She felt little or no connection to God. yet she persevered. "Let nothing trouble you," she once said, "All things are passing; God never changes." She kept at it. She operated on faith and faith alone.
27. That was the number of years Nelson Mandela was imprisoned--eighteen of them on Robben Island in South Africa. Plenty of time to work up real anger. And plenty of reason to come out hating the folks who had jailed him. Plenty of time to turn bitter. But Mandela did not. He even befriended his jailer. "As I walked out the door toward freedom," he commented when reflecting on his time of incarceration, "I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison." In the end, he not only helped liberate people of color in his native land, he also did it in such a way as to redeem the oppressors.
19 & 27. Sometimes it really is all about the numbers.
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