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.

Go Unafraid

Letter 4529

Worry over the day. Will I succeed at my tasks? Will my work be complete?

Yesterday, a similar day, these thoughts did not enter. Why today? Nothing has changed. The sun rises as ever.

❖

If the way is equally clear yesterday and today, let me then go forth with equal courage. Yesterday I walked these paths. Today shall I too.

Let me walk unafraid.

Consider:

Can I have courage today?

Reading:

❖ “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. / Just keep going. No feeling is final.” — Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours, I.59, trans. Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

❖ “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” — Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart

❖ “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed…” — Joshua 1:9 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Gifts

Letter 4528

I watched the sun rise from my chair. Slowly, the light on my table became unnecessary.

Slowly, the coat I wore at night was no longer needed.

Slowly, I filled with energy that in the dark had not been there.

❖

All these gifts, brought to me in my chair.

What other gifts are you prepared to send my way, Lord?

Consider:

Can I be attentive to and grateful for all I receive today?

Reading:

❖ “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Literary Ethics”

❖ “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Oliver, Upstream

❖ “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…” — James 1:17 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Burdens

Letter 4527

I spoke with my neighbor over our shared stone fence. We were together for hours.

I shared what weighed heavily on my spirit, a deep wound from when I was a child. They shared what troubled them, their family in turmoil with a feeling that they could do little.

We shared one another’s burdens, each lighter than before.

❖

Previously our words had only been greetings. Now, we each are known.

Let me go on from here with this lesson.

Consider:

Can I share more deeply with others?

Reading:

❖ “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?” — George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 72

❖ “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil, letter to Joë Bousquet, April 13, 1942

❖ “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

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

~B.R.