Journeying is a good metaphor for a lot of life’s little ploddings. For example, I’m in the process of learning to paint and was delighted to find a high school classmate who offers beginner watercolour classes on Gabriola Island. One July Friday I hopped on the ferry — a necessity if you live on an island — and spent the day awash in colour and catching up with an old friend.
Perhaps you are exploring something new. Maybe it’s an unexpected diagnosis or you’re learning to navigate your days without that special someone you love. It could be you’ve moved to an unfamiliar place or you have decided that adopting a new behaviour to replace an old, unhelpful one is worthy of your efforts. These are journeys of the heart.
Henri Nouwen, in his brilliant little book entitled The Way of the Heart, talks about his journey into solitude, silence and prayer. The first two, he says, are necessary for the third. For me, solitude is easy and it’s not that I have anything against people — quite the contrary. Nouwen says that the discipline of solitude actually makes us better company. That’s the reason for it, in his view. To love others attentively because we make space in ourselves for them.
Silence is not so easy. Even when my mouth stops moving, my mind does not. What a chatterbox I am in my own thoughts — even my dreams are filled with noise and babbling. There was a time when I thought I was good listener. I have since learned that the evaluating, advising, and interpreting that goes on in my head when someone else is talking is hardly helpful to them or me in my longing to really care for them. Practicing silence helps me step out of life’s circus where the 3-ring frenzy distracts me from what I truly value. It’s like shutting off the TV and letting the stillness envelope me. I learn to pay attention to what’s going on for real. It helps me bring true presence to others.
And prayer, well, I like the idea that prayer is simply keeping company with God. What I gain from silence and solitude is the reminder that the very ordinary things that occupy my days are all done in His company — gardening and quilting, working and studying, fairy-taling with Brie and sushi-ing with Mom — time and again I am surprised by the joy of simply being in Him. Prayer truly is a journey of the heart.
May you sense God’s peace in your journeying.
[
spacer height=”100px”]
