Just in case you were wondering…I am here! This last week I went to Texas – a place where I once lived and loved, but now reside in the piney woods of North Georgia. I live in a very wooded city full of very tall trees just about 30 miles from the base of the Appalachian Trail. I love where I live, but as I was driving out west in those wide open spaces I noticed that a “space”, a holy space,was gently opening up within me. I could see endlessly. I drove for hours – not passing another soul (granted, I was lost and my GPS kept saying “recalculating” with a bit of an attitude! I did finally silence her, too!) As I found my way to familiar small towns on my way home, I received a gift: God gave me the most magnificent sunset I have seen in a long time. A lingering sunset. A majestic sunset. I found myself breathing deeper and slower. I allowed all of DFW and its surrounding cities to roll off my shoulders. I was fully present to the beauty of the place and the colors of the sunset. I had cleared a space (or had God cleared the space?) to listen. Listen, again the first word of Benedict's Rule. Listen.
Why don’t we listen? Why do we fill our precious days with noise and stuff? What is it we need? Gunilla Norris author of Inviting Silence writes her understanding on our need to be still enough to listen, “we very much need three things: an awareness of our inner longing, the courage to act on behalf of that longing and a sense of community to support and maintain our interior journey.”
My friend Colleen, a significant part of my own community who helps me maintain my interior journey, sent me this quote last week, “Monastic spirituality flows from a belief in a God who comes to those who are disposed to listening, who will persevere in seeking God even when it seems pointless or boring. Monastic spirituality is not a running from (obligations, tragedies, brokenness), but running toward - seeking a meaning to the mystery of life in the presence of the living God." From the web page of Christ in the Desert.
We listen in order to turn our face to Jesus.
It was Meister Eckhart who wrote, “Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.”
Being in silence, we are our truest self. When I look into the eyes of my littlest granddaughter, I see in her eyes a knowing silence. That’s her at the top of the blog…just listening. Giving us all courage to just listen. Let’s join her…
Resources:
Norris, Gunilla; Inviting Silence How to Find Inner Stillness and Calm; Rider, Australia, 2004.
I am finding in my increased listening these days that I want to retreat even more. At least in silence I can draw close to God and block out all of the things that are frustrating me and making me border on 'hopeless' where ministry is concerned. I don't want to be hopeless, I want to serve God. But right now in silence and alone is the happiest place.
ReplyDeleteThis is called a Meditation on Equanimity. I hope it helps
ReplyDeleteMeditation on Equanimity
May I be balanced and at peace.
May I learn to see the arising and passing of all nature with equanimity and balance.
May I be open and balanced and peaceful.
May I bring compassion and equanimity to the events of the world.
May I find balance and equanimity and peace.