Go more deeply

sometimes it seems

as if we are all ‘hit and run” drivers

 

we go through life

hurried

purposeful

busy

 

thinking about what was

thinking about what is going to be

but never present

 

we are not present to ourselves

nor are we present to others

 

we may read the news

wander into the wilderness of the Book of Faces

spend moments with those precious to us

and engage with friends and coworkers

customers, clients patients, or parishioners

 

but all too often we are not really there

we don’t stop and breathe

we don’t pay attention

 

we don’t notice

what is going on in ourselves

what is going on inside the other

we accept the mask

the surface reality

 

and so we lack knowledge

about ourselves

about our own pain, our own joy

our strengths and our weaknesses

 

and we lack true knowledge of others

 

how can we truly be “in love”

how can we truly be people of compassion and kindness

if we do not understand

if we see only the external and superficial

 

sometimes we need to stop

breathe

listen

 

we need to take the time to go deeper

into our own heart

into the heart of others

 

only then can we be in touch with the complexity

that exists in our own hearts and souls

only when we notice a feeling

and say “where did that come? what did I just say to myself about myself”

can we begin to unravel the mystery of why

we do and say what we do and say

 

only then can we hear the pain

see the tension in the other person’s face

catch the hint of feeling in the other person’s voice

and respond to them, meaningfully

 

only then can understanding

healing

and love

emerge

 

for me, this is the Word of the Lord for this gloomy,

gray day

 

go more deeply

go more deeply