i am so happy for you to meet one of my dearest friends, christina. we met so many years ago, and we shall be friends forever. and what this girl can do with words, i can't even begin to tell you...its lovely. i'll say it here and now, i think this girl will be published someday. at least i hope. because the world should have more access to this girl's brain and heart. and even more than her talent for writing, and the way she thinks, and that we share so many loves, i just love her for her. she is a wealth of wonder and imagination, and a faithful friend. so i am thrilled to share a bit of her with you today...enjoy!!
I'm up before the sky awakes, the clouds still huddled beneath the blanket sky.
Before I can organize my mind from jumbled sleep, daily tasks invade my thoughts.
Click, click, click ... rapidly they flow in, seizing my will and tugging on my "responsibility".
Like bees, the thoughts swarm in, attempting to stifle the stillness still available to me during those first sweet moments, before my morning dissolves into routine and the sound of motion arrives.
The wrestle to preserve the quiet.
Not only for ourselves and our own solitude.
But for others -- to be silent enough, within ourselves, to hear the voices of others.
To enter a conversation aware of the other person.
When I read --
Milton's epic poem,
Paradise Lost , I witness the barriers of thought, the barriers of communication in Adam and Eve's language. And I learn how seductively language can be used against me as well.
Milton's work attunes my ears to pay attention, to recognize the subtleties of rhetoric.
Or Tolkien's tale of Bilbo Baggins, as he wields the sword of riddle and poetry to win a war of words over Gollum. Again, the art of conversation proved essential.
Or I read the great Psalms and unravel tangible light to uncover the dark path beneath my feet, reminding my heart to sing, to speak, to communicate with language, my heart to God.
To read is to practice listening, to sharpen my awareness of others' voices.
Even to learn to recognize my own voice, and the commonalities between us all.
We share so many hurts and insecurities, joys and delights,
and to recognize our shared experience with one another breeds encouragement, hope, and love.
... just one more reason to spend the weekend all cozy and curled up with a cup of tea and a good book.
cheers friends,
a wild civility
[ thanks for having me ]