Grant me a clearing.

The world has already rushed in, before even I sought you. I was delayed, did not seek you early: will you still visit me?

❖

Sweep aside the bustle, Lord, and leave a clearing where I can find you. Let not my late coming prevent our meeting.

Grace and mercy, you visit me upon my need, even in spite of myself.

– from the mountain

Consider:

Where can I slow my pace today?

Reading:

“I do not know You, God, because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.” — Flannery O’Connor

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There is power all around.

Bare feet on grass. Unseen are the thousands of roots connecting blade to blade, making thick turf.

A quenching glass of water. Unseen, the water seeping up through the spring from which it was drawn.

❖

A stroke of luck. Unseen, the careful sequence of loving events you arranged to make it so.

Grace, unseen yet always present.

Grant me awareness, Lord, of what I cannot see.

Let me be grateful for the unseen.

– from the mountain

Consider:

What forces can I not see?

Reading:

“What is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (1943)

❖

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), “Beauty”

❖

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” — 2 Corinthians 4:18, KJV

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Great winds bring great healing.

Aftermath of storm; aftermath of cataclysm.

Walking out into the wreckage, under bright sun, shining down, healing and drying what is left.

In the middle of this spent turmoil, a thought comes unbidden: I am in the presence of a great love.

❖

You brought the winds, Lord, but you also brought the after-peace. You brought the healing and growth. The bone-break is where our limbs are strongest.

Blinking in the sun, in the presence of a great love, let me give thanks.

– from the mountain

Consider:

If I am hard pressed, can I imagine a triumphant aftermath?

Reading:

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” — Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1395)

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You have sung to me forever.

The song you sing to me, the morning song of chirping birds, began long before I could hear it. Long after I leave, will it go on.

So, too, the evening song of the crickets and frogs. It began before me and will continue.

❖

Do you sing to me many songs, Lord, all at once? Do they greet me separately according to need?

Let me hear you fully today.

– from the mountain

Consider:

Can I hear you yet earlier, even before I seek to hear?

Reading:

“There are times when silence has the loudest voice.” — Leroy Brownlow

❖

“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!” — John Newton

❖

“Come, Love! Sing On! Let me hear you sing this song—sing for joy and laugh, for I the creator am truly subject to all creatures.” — Mechthild of Magdeburg

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