Desert Father Encounters The Rodeo With Grace And Peace

Now its PBJ and Jazz at Massey Hall, welcoming home my residents, and waiting for the beginning of another semester.  This brink is a peaceful lull.

Mark the Ascetic wrote, "If you want with a few words to benefit one who is eager to learn, speak to him about prayer, right faith, and the patient acceptance of what comes. For all else that is good is found in these."

I read these words, then partook of my daily, labyrinthine run-saunter around the airport.

As I past the currently ill-used rodeo stadium these words were much needed.

My runs often turn into pieces of solitude wherein my wandering mind and emotions work through muscles like lactic acid.  The steady rhythm, the sure direction, all is prayerful activity.  Today I felt alone.

"The patient acceptance of what comes."

I read Alphonse Guetteman's writing about the divine "yes," the peace that comes in recognizing God's presence in all movement, all things.  It seemed difficult.  It now comforts.

So it begins, as I began, with some Jazz and a small dinner, the promise of a good friend's company.

I stand, melodramatically speaking, shouting, "Yes!" into the all-enveloping darkness of my uncertainty.