Contemplation

    Ideas come and go.  They seem to be gone now.

    With no first line idea to guide me, I’ll plunge into the blankness of this white page.

    Last week at an impressive used bookstore in Port Townsend, I found a copy of Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation, which happens to be one of the Merton books I have wanted to own.  I am in process of desecrating it with my pink highlighter—there are so many passages that beg to be marked for future reference!

    Merton’s musings on the contemplative life match my recent experience, recent meaning my two years here on the island.  (Perhaps I should obtain a copy of No Man Is An Island next).  He puts words to inner spiritual workings.  He explores concepts that I have only haltingly considered but which resonate within.  Reading his words is akin to reading Henry Nouwen’s words:  a type of homecoming of the soul.

    How fortunate I am to live in a setting conducive to contemplation.  How blessed to be removed from the busyness and bustle of a working life.  How lovely to finally have the time to write, to play my flutes, to be part of a caring church family.  How freeing to find joy again and share that joy with you.