– Henry Ward Beecher
The other day I met with my friend, Rick the Scribe, for our once-a-month discussion over coffee and told him I was feeling a bit weary lately and was nearly consumed with a strong urge to run away to a remote, tropical beach somewhere for a few months. If I could only slip away to such a spot for awhile… Take long walks on the sand and the occasional invigorating swim in the open sea. Drop onto a cot or beach chair for several naps a day. Slow down. Think. Pray. Read. Watch the tide come in and go out. Listen to the waves.
But who has the time? There is the work to be done. Always the work.
Rick reminded me of a 3 day retreat he took this past summer to a Benedictine monastery high in a canyon in the mountains near Aspen. You don’t have to be a monk to hang out there. You just call ‘em up, make a reservation, and check in like you would at a hotel. He says it is a beautiful spot, and quiet. (It is a silent monastery, so the only thing you hear most of the day is the occasional breeze singing through the trees.) He suggested it might be easier to swing a two or three-day break there than three months on an island.
Imagine a guy who talks on the radio for a living spending several days in a place where you have to be silent. I’m considering it.
Although there’s probably no need to go to such an extreme.
There is this spot on the carpet in our living room – just below the window that looks out onto the lawn and large evergreen tree on the south side of our home – where the sun shines in during the mid-morning. This time of year, with the sun far south on the horizon, its warm rays break in below the higher branches of the tree, falling onto a place about three feet square on the carpet between the window seat and the coffee table. If you were to be standing in the entryway of our home and happened to glance into that room you might have the urge, on a cold winter morning, to lie down in that space to rest for awhile.
Our dog, Maggie, used to do that. After a long lifetime of blessing our home with her sweet spirit, she passed away a few years ago. I still think of her every time I see the sun warming that spot. No matter what else was going on in the house, if the sun was shining onto that place on the floor she would seek it out and place herself in the middle of it, soaking up its warmth.In the 16th century Copernicus took up the then controversial position that the Sun itself was the center of the universe. He said one could not deny it when one considered the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole universe. In the face of those who came out in opposition to his certainty he said they should face the facts with both eyes open.
Maggie would usually close her eyes when she was basking in the sun, at peace, content. She wasn’t one to be drawn into a debate about the position of the sun. She would simply go in search of it and when she found it she would curl up in it and she would rest. It was a transcendent thing.
I suppose that is what I am really talking about…seeking the son and finding peace there.
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