day of silent refuge

I shared a day of silent refuge today with women in Montreat. We created simple journals, set our intentions for the day and enjoyed sitting and walking prayer and meditation.
It was shear joy to take refuge in God, the Word and this faith community.
The beauty of the day and our mountains was a big plus.
Special thank you to Clair, for the invitation, the welcome and the delicious lunch.
May the merit and all the good work of this day be of benefit to all beings.

There is a feast, with finest grain
Where poor and lowly at table reign
Where love is shared, the meal begun
The call is given, yet few children come

The invitation is now made known
All through the land to all God's own
Come share this banquet and be made free
And dance together, one family.
(Colleen Fulmer)

Right speech

After living in almost total silence for two weeks I began to hear my unspoken thoughts. I was shocked and sometimes horrified at what I was about to speak out loud. Over and over for several days, I said to myself,"you were going to say that!" and thankfully I didn't.
Coming back into the world I try to practice right speech.
I want what I say to be kind, truthful and necessary and if it is not all three I want to be peaceful with silence.
God is not calling us to say everything there is to say about every subject.
Living in the Light illuminates equally what you wish to see and say and what you don't.
As you become skillful at discerning and following the way of the Spirit, it can become challenging to watch others make serious mistakes, harmful to themselves and others; watch them and be ok with it.Speaking aloud only when you can do so with compassion, honesty and fully knowing that they are ready to hear what you have to say.
Fortunately, by the time I have gone through the mental check to see if what I have to say is rightly ordered, usually the time and need to speak has passed.
'Nuff said. Please leave a comment.

room at the Inn

I was gifted by a 5 day retreat by Mother Nature.
I've been meditating on what this holiday is all about.
For me it is making room in our hearts. Mary and Joseph asked for room at the inn, so the story goes, and Jesus is still asking us the same-to make room for Him and all beings in the inn of our hearts.
Each time I pray for loving kindness for someone, even if i don't feel it,I find there is room in my heart.
And when I don't have the strength to love, the compassionate heart of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up the slack till I'm ready.
I never even dreamed how large my heart could grow.
On the day of the longest night and return to Light, may all beings know Love,compassion and peace and may I be living witness to this Love and freely share all of the Gift that has been given to me, with all beings.

waiting for snow

Maybe awakening tomorrow
will be silent and white
The sound of crystals floating
and settling.
The value scale, blowing
in the wind.
God's permission to be still.

thinking and knowing

it's the birthday Kenneth Patchen, one of my favorite poets He said, "Think enough and you won't know anything." He went on to write and illustrate over 40 books of poetry.
There is a knowledge that comes directly to your heart and soul, when we are not thinking;a universal, eternal knowledge that is behind and beyond words.
I'm grateful to have the inner stillness and silence to hear and receive this knowledge and to be able to share it.
share with me-leave a comment.

a few more silence posts

100 plus visitors-thanks
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
Mother Teresa

True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. ~William Penn


Silence is the true friend that never betrays. ~Confucius


Silence is a source of great strength. ~Lao Tzu


Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment. ~Henry David Thoreau


Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence. ~John Lahr


The Arctic expresses the sum of all wisdom: Silence. ~Walter Bauer


Now all my teachers are dead except silence. ~W.S. Merwin

God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.
~Joaquin Miller


You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind. ~Sri Sathya Sai Baba

We must have reasons for speech but we need none for silence. ~Proverb


There are times when silence has the loudest voice. ~Leroy Brownlow


Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck


Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

and only 10 c0mments-leave me one.
blessings,
Robyn

some silent quotes

Bob Dylan:
I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me. I know some people are terrified of the bomb. But then some people are terrified to be seen carrying a modern screen magazine. Experience teaches us that silence terrifies people the most.
Cato the Elder:
I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.
Confucius:
Silence is the true friend that never betrays.
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Proverbs 17:28:
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

Rachel Naomi Remen:
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.... A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Thomas Merton:
It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.

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