Drawing Near

Letter 4533

Draw near. Draw near. Draw near.

Whom, to what?

Me to you, Lord.

Me to others.

Me to my chores.

Me to the land.

Me to my neighbor.

Me to the mountaintop.

Draw near.

❖

Me to you, Lord.

Consider:

Can I seek to draw near to you today?

Reading:

❖ “For near is where you’ll meet what you have wandered / far to find.” — Scott Cairns, “Draw Near,” Poetry, September 2011

❖ “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone — we find it with another.” — Thomas Merton, Love and Living

❖ “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” — Psalm 145:18 (KJV)

Thank you for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Delight

Letter 4532

The animals need to be fed and the other morning chores await, too. These dark mornings I go without thinking from dwelling to outbuilding, task after task that will not wait.

Yesterday I walked glumly along this simple route. Today there is joy in my heart while I do the same things. Why?

Could it be that I accepted the necessity, and decided to embrace what will come anyway?

❖

If I came to love my chores, can I not also come to love anything? Calamity and woe?

Let me practice acceptance of all I see. Let me live as if I had chosen this life.

Consider:

Can I accept?

Reading:

❖ “The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” — G. K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

❖ “The more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.” — Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

❖ “And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.” — Ecclesiastes 3:13 (KJV)

Thank you for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Chosen Loss

Letter 4531

The late nights, the frantic action, the hoarding, I have left them behind.

In their place: simple mornings, orderly habits. Do I feel the loss of what I had, though it created bedevilements?

As the leaves turn, the limbs lose their cover. Do they feel this loss?

❖

Skin after skin. Growth after growth. In the transition is when I feel the change.

I have chosen this. I have chosen this loss. Let me choose again.

Consider:

Can I feel new growth in the place of old ways?

Reading:

❖ “So this constant abrasion and decay makes the soil of my future growth.” — Henry David Thoreau, Journal, October 24, 1837

❖ “He says the best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost, “A Servant to Servants,” North of Boston

❖ “A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;” — Ecclesiastes 3:6 (KJV)

Thank you for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Solitude

Letter 4530

Another day dawns on the mountain. I live high above a valley, with just a handful of neighbors. We all must walk some distance to the nearby village.

The sun making its way into my room and casting a pattern on the floor through my window — none are with me to see. Whatever shape it makes, upon which I may remark, will disappear as the day wears on. This moment will slip into memory.

❖

Are my neighbors experiencing the same things? Are they awake, at devotion so early?

It may be that I am well and truly alone. Let this prospect not alarm me, for I chose this life.

Consider:

Can I embrace solitude today?

Reading:

❖ “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, “Solitude”

❖ “Search your heart. Find what brings you joy, in whose company you are most serene. Be there, be fully there.” — Omid Safi, “Solitude Is About More Than Just Being Alone,” On Being

❖ “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” — Mark 1:35 (KJV)

Thank you for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.