Advent Day 6: December 7th
Accepting the Unknown Path

I was in North Carolina preparing to lead a retreat, and I began my day at the top of a nearby mountain in an exquisite chapel. Someone did it right. Three sides of the sanctuary were made of glass that faced an endless range of mountain peaks. It was easy to feel hopeful and full while facing that view. As I stood there, I stretched out my hands and willed myself to accept the unknown path that lay before me. Here I am. I willed myself to grow. Willed myself to see beyond the slant of my culture. Willed myself to be fearless in trusting the innermost knowing in my heart.

Was the nature of the challenge any different for those two figures making their way to Bethlehem on a donkey? What else did they have to go on but a strange sense that they would be directed from within? The outcome was an impossible mystery. What could they have relied on except an experience of this power? They didn't know the course of their lives, or the course of human life, was about to change forever. But surely they recognized something. And they were moved enough to become bold, to move beyond tradition and convention.

No matter how many books are written, no matter the greatness and breadth of libraries and research and philosophies -- the finest scholarship will always stand juxtaposed with the sweet, simple movement of love responding to the stirrings of the spirit.


by Paula D'Arcy, Redbird Foundation
from the book: Daybreaks