As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
~ Denise Levertov, "The Avowal," in OBLIQUE PRAYERS
Enjoying the Friends of Silence monthly newsletter? Now you can sign up to receive a free daily quote in your inbox each morning taken from more than 39 years of 422 newsletters and 5,600 quotes on silence and the contemplative path.
"Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness" (James 3:18)
We lay down our seeds in the dark. Spring has been exceptionally cold this year. Reluctant daffodils have done little to convince me. But we do the work of the faithful farmer, rising in the pre-dawn hours. It is a chosen hiddenness, a subtle stretching over time, ear bent to listen to the ground, ready for instruction. Slow rhythmic movements are best. Sometimes we simply show up, holding borrowed pain, applying tears or not. With a gentle but demanding attention to detail, we prepare the soil. We plant. We wait.
~ Nancy Thomas from "Secret Sowers" in CLOSE TO THE GROUND