Solitude

“Loneliness is our precious gift. Solitude can give us back time we have lost and a wide empty space in which to wander without purpose or constraint. In this place all life slows and becomes suspended. Inside solitude we may lay down the burden of our wounds. When darkness has enveloped us with endless nights of chaos and confusion..when we are dismembered..broken into pieces and reduced to fragile threads..when we are disappearing into wounds that it seems may never heal..then we shall seek out solitude to be our refuge. We may be thinned out by all the work of letting go. There is so much scraped away from us..more than we could have imagined and in ways never anticipated. We have been left only with these gaping..hungry wounds. But there is release in the diamond clarity of being stripped to the core. Perhaps only in this moment..with nearly everything peeled away..do we truly understand the value of what remains. And grief will pursue us if we try to avoid the sorrow of our wounds. It will sit quietly working its roots down into our souls. But when we are wrapped in quiet isolation..we may walk more closely to our sorrows and come to understand the nature of the journey that we share. We know that in the end our wounds have the power to change us and we will find relief in this haven of wept tears. True isolation may take us to a liberation we did not even know was there. The protection given to us by solitude is without measure. Let us be unafraid to be alone. Loneliness will still be holding us with tender care when all other arms have dropped away.”

i know this gift....