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On one of those sleepless nights, I was, like when you feel the lostness, the inner grieving deeper than thought or emotion, that unnameable ache of heart, and you do not even know why the ache has arisen. Yet, you do not try to silence it, for it is too important to miss this moment, and the deep feeling has something to do with love ~ it always does. So, you let it hold you close, and love you, even though it hurts you.... I open up to this prayer of Thomas Merton, by apparent chance. Words from the past, offering wisdom and resolve in this present in which I now sit here, with You ...
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
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In the 2004 movie “Finding Neverland,” author Sir James Matthew Barrie, played by Johnny Depp, strikes up a friendship with the Davies family, while in a local park. He is invited to perform for the boys of a young widow. So, he sits them down, takes command of their dog and, for their amusement, pretends that he is a trainer for a dangerous bear.
He says to his little audience of boys and mother, "I want you to pay particular attention to the teeth." Barrie says some bear trainers only work with bears who have had their teeth pulled out. Others, he says, work with a bear only if they can use a muzzle, but he is brave and will work with the bear as is.
Young Peter complains that the animal is not a bear at all, rather, "[I]t's just a dog!" Barrie playfully explodes, "Just a dog!" He tells the other boys to pay no attention, that the animal dreams of being a bear, and Peter is dashing its hopes by saying, "It's just a dog.” He remarks, “What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That's like saying, 'He can't climb that mountain—he's just a man. That's not a diamond—it's just a rock.' Just!"
Peter challenges him, "Fine then. Turn him into a bear, if you can." "With those eyes, my bonnie lad,” replies Barrie, “I'm afraid you'd never see it."
Continued... |
