(inspired by the winter season and a spirit visit)
A few years ago, one of my dearest clients passed away from breast cancer that had gone into remission, but returned and quickly took her to the other side. I visited her several times in hospice and was so moved by the peace surrounding her final exhale. This time of the year is the final exhalation, the turning of deepest darkness to the tiniest sliver of light.
Each year for the Winter Solstice my client would light candles all around her office and home, welcoming the light in the darkness. She did this instead of As i sit here musing, i feel her sitting with me, and she whispers to me about her favorite poet, Wendell Berry. I followed her whispers and found a poem that that we would like to share with you:
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
When despair grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting for their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
May you each rest in the grace of the world, settling into the silence of your heart as the darkness deepens. Bathe in moonbeams and shimmer with starlight. Allow your being to be filled with peace, becoming once more tender and permeable with the beauty of this life.
* The Guided Meditation this week is a peaceful savasana.