I've just finished reading Frank Mulville's Single-handed Sailing (book review at a later date) and his view of the single-handed experience turns my mind to the hermits in our midst, to monks in monasteries, and to the desert father and mothers. There is something to be said for the ways that solitude allows us to experience ourselves as we truly are, not as we pretend to be. I've experienced the same with meditation, too. Good prayer brings us not only into the presence of the Divine, but into our own presence. (By the way, is there such a thing as "bad prayer"? I wonder.)
Yet, in our modern/post-modern world of fast paced living, with schedules to be kept, deadlines to met, time with friends and family to squeeze in somewhere a midst the necessity of working so we can continue to work ... where do we find time to be alone? How do we nurture our souls?
There is a story told of two Jesuits on retreat at a monastery. The one rushing from private prayer towards the chapel for the third prayer service of the day, finds the other sitting under the shade of a tree reading a book of poetry. "That won't save your soul, you know?!" "Quite right. But it will make my soul worth saving."
For me ... sailing (even being upon the water) provides these moments, whether I'm with people or not. Laura, my wife, continues to comment that when I'm sailing, she senses this is when I'm truly myself.
May you find time to creatively be alone, be at prayer, be engaged in activities that nurture your soul - that make it worth saving, that allow you to be truly yourself.
And then ... may we be surprised - always surprised - to find that God has been right there with us the entire time.
Blessed Be
Joel
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