I started this blog as an outlet, and then gave it pause. I'm finally starting to find a rhythm in life and it's allowing life and creativity to once again flow (I wish I could say freely, but I'm not quite there yet) through my veins.
I’ve been trying to let my mind relax into writing. There is so much swirling around, but I don’t want to manufacture thought, or force it. I’d much rather let the flow of words go from my mind through to my fingers and onto page.
I’ve been reading Rainer Rilke’s “Book of Hours” and it’s been profoundly inspiring. There is a line from his poem I, 14 -
“You are not dead yet, it’s not too late to open your depths by plunging into them and drink in the life that reveals itself quietly there.”
Of late, I’ve been drawn into deep reflection, wanting to “plunge” into my depths, settle down, and essentially meet God there.
This last month has had anxiety woven through it. Looking back, I don’t necessarily feel the fullness of the anxiety that I carried, but I know it was there. But what was also there was a deep seated feeling of peace. Odd right? How can anxiety and peace take up the same space? A wise scholar, Matte Downey, once wrote -
“Very often we equate peace with an absence, be it conflict, trouble, anxiety, stress, or noise. But peace is not a lack or absence. Peace is a presence; the presence of the Prince of Peace, and as such, always available to us, no matter what our circumstances. We choose peace by choosing to join ourselves with the Prince of Peace.”
Wow right!? I invite you to read that again and sit with it.
As I’ve been taking the time to traverse the neglected areas of my soul in search for God and truth, I’ve found peace as I've encountered Him. And with that settled feeling of peace and truth, comes life and freedom. In the unraveling comes clarity, chaos becomes stillness, and even if there is no absence of life's stressors, there is a Presence.
