Time

When time is reduced to linear progress, it is emptied of presence.”

― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

________________________________________________

What is the sum of our days?

As we plod on

In this linear life

Going merely from one damn thing to another

First growing up

Having an entire town

Plan out your life

(well of course you are going to be a doctor)

Then more of the normal thing

College (go Blues! AKA Missionaries)

Marriage

More school

Life as a minister

Going up the ladder

Small church, medium church, large church

Yahoo!  Lake Oswego

But in all the progress

Regress

A loss of self

Just progressing, not living

Then crash!

A disaster of my own making

Then start again

Disaster relief

Teaching at a medical school

Executive Director of a mental health program

On, on, on

Progressing forward

But most of life has had one dimension

A line ____________________________

Yes so much happened

So much life, so much death

So much success, so much failure

So many jobs

But just progressing from one thing to another is not enough

Life should be two-dimensional

Three dimensional

The plodding line cannot define

There must be soul bursts

And heart breaks

There must be

Connections that add lines to our lives

Children, lovers, family

Sacred

Above all sacred

Which makes the line not a line

but something much

much

more

Just sit there

“You have traveled too fast over false ground;

Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up

To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain

When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,

Taking time to open the well of color

That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.”

                              John O'Donohue

______________________________

Don’t just do something

Sit there

Really

Put down the phone

Turn off the TV

Leave your computer

And take a walk

(having a dog will help)

Look at the mountains

Listen to the owls hoot

Think about nothing

Think about everything

But let each thought go

Into the deepening sky

And just notice

Your feet as they touch the soggy earth

Notice the rain on your face

And the wind brushing against your cheek

Be in that moment

Or sit on your deck

(if you prefer)

And sip your coffee

Noticing its heat

Its taste

Think of nothing

Think of everything

Just let it go

And feel yourself

Rooted to the earth

You have traveled to fast

Over false group

It is time to let your soul

Catch up with your body

And take you

back

listen to the Silence

“One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people.”

                              John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

__________________________________________________________

Slowly the light is consumed by darkness

the pickups no longer rattle down the road

and the sounds of the day

are muted

cloaked by night

the stars shyly peek out through the darkness

gathering points of light

as the moon creeps above the mountain tops

shining a ghostly light

across the ground

the deepening silence reveals

hidden sounds

the hoot of an owl

a calf search for its mother

at the foot of the hills

a coyote choir

sings

and in this quiet space

the sound of my heart

beating in the silence

the grudging creaking of my joints

and my murmuring mind

shout secrets

long hidden

into

the ears of God