“…my mind suddenly erupts with ideas of things to do. …get everything arranged so I start enjoying myself. The impulses are almost desperate, as if my mind has awakened startled, terrified by its own depth of peacefulness, abruptly afraid of dying from inaction. I respond immediately. …ready to unpack…I am simply stopped by something. I feel it within me, inside my very muscles, yet it seems to come from somewhere outside me. It is not me, yet it is rising from the deepest part of me. It is powerful, as if a great gentle hand has taken my arms and legs and simply stilled them, and a sweet irresistible voice is speaking in my belly, ‘Be still now.’ It’s not a real voice, not actual hearing, but the message is clear: no rush, no need to do anything, just be.”
(Gerald May, The Wisdom of the Wilderness, p. 19)
Morning, and palm trees silhouetted against the gold-blue streaked sunrise. California – quite a contrast to the snowy plains of Colorado and the desert red of New Mexico. Breakfast was early, then packing to detrain. The Southwest Chief pulled into Los Angeles’ Union Station at 8:00 a.m. – 15 minutes early – and the progress board indicates that the Coast Starlight is on time for its 10:15 a.m. departure. So far so good!
I have settled into a kind of rhythm – seeking to give into that voice inviting me to “be still now.” I have work to do, but at least some part of that work is stillness. I have decided to observe Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours, a contemporary rendering of the Benedictine prayerful ordering of the day. Through prayers and scriptures, it patterns each day into The Morning Office (observed sometimes between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.), The Midday Office (between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.) and Vespers (between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.). In between, I am devoting some time to reading, and a larger block of time to writing. After vespers, so far I have continued with some devotional reading, followed by an indulgence until bedtime in a mystery. Throughout the day, as long as there is light, there is the window, and the landscape moving and changing and engaging. And there is the voice…
“…be still now.”
1 comment:
Glad to hear you arrived in time for your crucial connection to the next train. Your trip is bringing the rail fans out of the woodwork and we all are enjoying hearing of your experiences.
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