Psalm 37.7 - "Rest (be still, silent) in (before) the Beloved (the Lord), patiently wait for the Beloved (the Lord)...
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Sometimes… Wisdom… She wants to do something in your life, in you, through you, for you and you need to take a step back rest and welcome what lies nascent in the soil, unseen
Why continue plowing the ground when a new something is already soon to appear?
The field of grace is a womb and Love our mother nurturing to life the unborn that can only arise from a fecund emptiness
“Rest in the Beloved, Wait patiently” says the ancient psalmist Trusting what is trust what is but not yet seen
There are graces that emerge only out of the soil of silence and stillness even as there are songs only heard when no one is trying to listen -
Let go of everything for one moment and feel the world fall into that space -
The tomb of Jesus was fallow time without which, resurrection was not possible for Jesus – you and me, everyone, as well
So, learn to trust the emptiness Silent and waiting until…
*Brian K. Wilcox, “Fallow,” 2.25.2022
Almost no one or nothing in our cultures encourages us to be patient, to rest expectedly, with heart open. We are taught to be afraid and suspicious of waiting. We fear fallowness. We must do, we conclude. How else would we know who we are? How sad this prevalent insanity!
I found the same fascination with the noisy haste and away from quiet, still rest in the churches. In such a rush and escape from solitude, prayer is reduced to mouthing words, fellowship to do-gooding. When faith communities are like this, it is due foremost to leaders training them to be like this. A spiritual leader values habitual quiet, rest, and discernment. She does not want the people rushing around in haste like their feet are on fire and talking incessantly like their mouths are bubbling, babbling hot springs.
Spiritual prayer includes an inner posture of patience, stillness, and quietness, waiting on Spirit to act rather than our anxiously rushing about and ahead like we are chasing our heads. Prayer is the waiting. How? Restfully. Trustfully. Waiting is not a doing nothing, it is itself an action, a holy habit we need to cultivate.
A Zen aphorism reads, "Hurry up and do nothing." Yet, that nothing can be a place for blessings to sprout. Absences are essential for new life to emerge. Empty spaces are where things grow unseen, and most of spiritual life is unseen. Spiritual graces grow out of fallowness.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2023. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
