reflections on rest & the beauty of the soul
rest
I love working hard
I love having goals and plans
I love seeing results
I love living to the full
but I’ve realized that to live fully I need to rest fully too.
I need time to listen deeply to my heart so I know the direction my energy needs to flow.
Resting helps me know my own self.
I long to please others and make others happy –
and so it has been hard to hear my own voice
what is right for my life? what is my own desire?
through resting and being still – I again find that inner voice
And I’ve been nervous of that inner voice..
Can I even trust my own heart?
It has become my deep understanding that
our deepest inner voice is the voice of the soul,
which is infinitely beautiful.
One of the Celtic theologians who ended up getting excommunicated from the Roman church in 418 AD as his views about our original goodness came in contrast with
Augustine’s at the time, was Pelagius.
Pelagius’s writings reflected an understanding held by the Celtic Christians that at the very heart of our humanity is beauty,
And this beauty is the reflection of God.
As J. Philip Newell expresses in his book, listening for the heartbeat of God, Pelagius understood that ‘redemption can be understood in terms of setting free, releasing what we essentially are. Our goodness is sometimes so deeply buried as to be lost or erased, but it is there having been planted by God, and awaits its’ release.’
When we are able to know that our soul is essentially good and
infinitely beautiful as it is born from Infinite Beauty,
we can begin to trust what our soul is trying to communicate to us.
And I believe it is through stillness and rest and silence that we become aware of the gentle communication of the soul.
Most of us are afraid of quiet and stillness.
Most of us are afraid of simply being with ourselves in solitude.
But there are tremendous gifts for us there, and I am delighted over and over again as I bring myself and others to this place of rest and listening to the soul.
This past week was a time of deep rest at Cultus Lake;
a time of solitude as well as being with close friends in the evenings.
Once again, in the quiet hours of solitude,
I fell in love with the Presence of Love, the One who has healed my heart and restores my soul over and over again.
The One who calls me to life, who invites me to risk
and to dream new dreams.
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Sign up for Cathy%26#039;s newsletter here – you will receive info on upcoming events and more. Name:’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
