By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies. Is 30:15
"Though Advent’s expectant hush has passed, St. Augustine reminds us not to give over that sense of quiet and stillness just yet: “See what God became for your sake; learn the lesson of such great lowliness, learn it even from a teacher not yet able to speak. …for your sake your Creator lay speechless, unable even to call his mother by her name.” As I look toward Ordinary Time and the start of the next semester, I am tempted to move on to Christ preaching and teaching and healing, to my life packed with the practical and engrossing. Isaiah and Augustine remind me not to rush on, to remain engaged with the lessons of the infant. To experience again being unformed, speechless, of necessity trusting that what I need will be given. To grow slowly, to watch the child to see the signs of what He will become." — from my Christmas reflection of 2009
Today starts nine months of sabbatical leave, of time for writing and reflection, a time for rest and growth. I'm tempted to dive into the projects that hang (some of them literally) enticingly on the walls of my office and mind, but am reminded by this passage to start slowly, to learn the lessons of the child in the crib. As yet wordless...
So looking forward to the results of this sabbatical. (And willing to wait patiently!)
ReplyDeleteI am by nature more of a contemplative, a Mary, not a Martha: today I am so grateful to be back home, quiet, resting, reading, thinking, etc. I am so relieved that I don't have to venture out today as the world's return to hustle bustle crowds and shoppers unsettles me. I am happy and content to spend today being a little mindless, reveling in all that I accomplished these last weeks and reveling in all that God has accomplished 'yesterday' and always. My step into 'newborn' wordless realm that you write of is that our 19 yr old daughter flew out of JFK last night for a 24 day trip to India. The chasm that has opened up between us just awes and numbs and silences me. I've always thought it was the kids that couldn't live without their electronic gadgets. But now I have to go 24 days without being able to receive text msgs from her. How will I know that she is alright? I won't. I, too, must "experience again being unformed, speechless, of necessity" trust that my child will given all she needs even in my utter absence from her life. As she bears her Light to the world. Marie W.
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