Aching Joy
It’s good to be back! After the constancy of conversation, motion, and tasks, a July unplugging was much needed. As I suspected, the slowing of life didn’t come easy. For the first several days (ok, more) I had a hard time sitting down. Putzing here and there in the rented apartment, I focused on what we would eat, managing our Covid (yes, 3 of 4 us came down on the way there), and walking in a bit of circle around the flat.
Freedom and Peace
When a new realization is accepted, often what follows is a new freedom and sense of peace. Some people voice it this way: “I’ve made my peace with….” What is this freedom? What is this peace?
Acceptance
With realizations comes understanding. It’s this understanding that allows us to see things in a different light. “If someone or something is seen or shown in a particular light, people can see that particular part of their character in a new light” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English). But realizations (and the understanding that comes with them) must be accepted in order to bring change.
Realizations
“Aha” moments, when they come, can be like the slow dawning of morning. First you see a lightening of the dark, a gradual movement so incremental we are scarcely aware of when the dark changes to light. Then comes the fullness of sun, shining down this way and that, moving its angles so that most places receive light during the day.
Riding the Dawn
Tonight I led a stilling about being aware, listening to the invitation to come as we are, paying attention to the hunger of our moments, the desires to live “freely, lightly in the unforced rhythms of grace” as Peterson says in Matthew 11.
What’s It Like for You?
The practice of sitting down, distilling thoughts, and finding treasured nuggets are gifts in the writing of this blog. When life gets busy, this commitment invites us to slow down, breathe deep and lean into movements of God that we might not see otherwise. Many times, the effect is that some thought became clearer, a direction more identified and love more clearly felt. Blog writing is a good companion on this journey with God.
