The Still, Small Voice

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the pace to the start of my day when I do one thing at a time versus waking up full of too many expectations. I give thanks for the nice weather and running in shorts and short sleeves yesterday. 

Here is a recent WORD FOR THE DAY from www.gratefulness.org, from Dutch priest, writer and theologian Henri Nouwen:  

When we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, 
small voice and to feel the delicate breeze, and so to come to know the presence of Love. 

I am sitting on our front patio, enjoying the morning sounds and fresh air. A breeze, more than delicate, just moved the butterfly wind chime that hangs a few feet from me. I love the sound. I love the reminder. I love the connection to my sister Mary Jo, who died in 2019. Love. 

The wind chime is a still, small voice this morning. Pacing myself with one thing at a time is a still, small voice. Gentle discipline, including meditation and gratitude practices, are helping the still, small voice be heard. 

Over my lifetime, I have often had harsh discipline for myself. The voice inside would never shut up and it was anything but small or gentle. My fifties have offered some real challenges, which I can now affectionately say I dubbed “the muck and mire.” I can say it now because, as I close in on 56, I can look back at some painful times and on the aging process with more acceptance and grace. 

The still, small voice is no longer drowned out by the harsh critic most of the time. Just some of the time. Practice makes progress possible, and it makes all the difference. The presence of Love is felt more deeply. Love wins.