A Monday Meditation for May 18, 2020
A Poem for Meditation
The Real Work
by Wendell Berry
It may be that when we no longer
know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer
know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
I invite you to reread that poem, and as you read it a second time, call to your inner ear the sound of a babbling stream…
It’s a beautiful sound.
As the poem suggests, the sounds of a babbling stream exist because the course is not smooth but interrupted.
We are living in such a time. The current of our stream is being challenged, impeded, slowed.
And yet the water finds its way. We have not become a stagnant pool of water. The Spirit is still flowing within and around us, carving new pathways as it goes.
Feel for the current in your own life. Where is it taking you? What is blocking your way? How can you bend, move, flow around it?
This time when we are asked to see and do life differently, when circumstances and surroundings have shifted, the work of Being the Church, of being community and connected, grounded in the Sacred is at hand. It will look and feel different, for it’s new terrain. But our real work, our real journey seems clear: love each other. As hard as it is to be physically apart, we can still find ways to express and share our love and care.
Reach out. Make the phone call. Journal. Self-reflect. Walk outside. Sit outside. Read a story. Tell your story.
The Spirit, the water, always finds a way. No rock or log will stop it completely. It may change its course or alter its speed, but still the water and Spirit flow. May this be true for your spirit this week as well.
With hope,
Becca