Hesychia

 

Hesychia: the word means "rest."  Hesychastic prayer leads us to rest in God said Henri Nouwen in his book Lifesigns.  He goes on to talk about how the only way that wounded human beings can truly live in community is through such prayer.  We are needy...yes, even the most seemingly self sufficient of us are needy.  Every single one of us are wounded in ways we cannot always understand ourselves.  So the only way to live in community, the only way to make a home is to rest in God...to bring all that need, all of our broken places, all of the wounds to the Healer who can touch those parts of us that others cannot always understand, or don't have the energy to meet because of their own wounds. 

In the past few months my life has been taking root here in this place, and about a month ago I started dating someone who is an extraordinary human being.  New relationships always bring out the neurotic stuff.  It is uncomfortable, sometimes embarrassing to have someone see this mess that is oneself.  We put on a certain face to the world if we're lucky, but when someone comes to know us well and romance begins, we sometimes long to run and hide, when the thing that is most needed is transparency--honesty--truth telling.  But even when we are able to tell the truth about ourselves, it is often so very difficult to believe that someone could love us as we are.  We find it hard to see what they see in us.  Or we think that perhaps that person just doesn't quite understand the depth of the wounds. 

They don't of course.  But God does. 

And lately, from a place of contemplation, from a quiet heart, it is becoming obvious to me that God meets us there in our weaknesses, and it is in God that we can meet each other without fear, trusting the Eternal One to fill in the empty, aching, hurting places with Her grace.

May you find that quiet place when the emptiness in you cries out for human touch and attention.  God will fill those places with peace, and very often with a human love in community as well.

You are beloved my friends.   WE are beloved and held in that eternal and compassionate heart which is God.