A Hom-ing Table: When Heart Meets Home

Home as Cloister revisited...

"And then there are the days when being at home is enough. When we give up striving for what isn't and lie still in the peculiar music of silence. At one with our house..."--Brocante Home

Of course, it only makes sense when we remember this.... that ultimately, our true "house" is with God : )

Another nice qoute, found through The Conditions of a Solitary Bird:

"It is necessary gradually to learn the interior spirit of solitude, to live mentally within the four walls of the cell, to avoid all undue preoccupation with either the past or the future, to live in the present moment in the vital actuality of the presence and love of God. You must learn, and it is not easy, to live in the real of this place and time."--from First Initiation into Carthusian Life

When one's cloister is simply one's home, it may not necessarily be alone. But there is still such healing i feel in "sharing solitude" with those we love. And funny how this "present-ness" both deepens our awareness and our love.

One movie that gives a deep feeling for this is Into Great Silence. I'd be embarassed to tell you just how many nights it took me to watch the whole thing, but i guess that was how it was supposed to be (it can be seen on YouTube). After watching it, for awhile i noticed time kind of felt different. Really different. There was more silence inside when doing things, a silence where you are more aware of the little sounds or movements things makes. The click of a dish as you set it down feels nourishing, the faucet running really feels like water, stuff like this registers more somehow. And awareness of simple things like the sound of the keyboard as you type, the sound feels more "real" now becuase it is being heared more deeply by an inner silence. Movements too, like your loved ones hand as he picks up the bread at dinner. It all starts to feel more and more real. And i long for more of this.

It feels so.... healing. It feels a deep part of "home as cloister".

And i feel this applies to our body as "home" too, this present-ness. As most of you know i've some serious chronic health issues. And its been slowly dawning that its when i'm not present that things get so much worse...especially when i'm worrying about the future of my health. Money i'm slowly learning to not worry as much about.... but still, health worry tends to get me every time. And its dawning maybe its becuase of not being present there. When we are in the situation, the pain of our body etc, there are often little openings He leaves us to bear things, little promptings to do something a different way, or to open to this sort of calming or restful or joyful thing, and the like. If i could just do that more, just think of my body and health just in the present, just right now....i think it could make a real difference. His Hand is here... in the present.

I long so much to live more this way. And i think this home as cloister thing has to start in the little things like this. Little things arent so little...they can be where God reaches out His hand the most of all...

(Image from here)