July 09-C, 2022

Crepe Myrtle Grove 01 07/08/2022 Oil Paint Rendered — Charlotte, North Carolina
The frustrations of life
need a lot of silence
to be silenced.

We need to sit quietly 
more often than we do,
in more quiet
than we are often allowed.

Noise and bustle
seem to be the orders of the day,
every day.
Because, I think,
the other side of noise
is recognition,
realization,
knowing,
seeing,
awakening,
enlightenment...

And that asks hard things of us.

Better to live 
with the noise and bustle,
frustration
and wits' end
than to take up the work
of doing what needs to be done
about the things unveiled 
by the silence.

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Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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