And it made me cry. I suppose that’s not the usual response to viewing fruit trees. But I had never seen one in person before and it was so beautiful and it looked so graceful spreading its dusky green branches out, its small, hard fruit bending its weight this way and that with the wind… I nearly stepped back out of some strange sense of respect. I knew pears grew on trees, of course. I had eaten pears in the past. But to see it there…
Today is my first day at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, WI. I have come from Chicago to an in-residence program of sorts. They call it VIC-Volunteers in Community.
. . .
Yep. That’s right. I came from Chicago to live with some nuns. On purpose.
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I will stay for a month. I will work. I will study. I will pray. I will meditate. And I will search for the Essential Good at the Heart of the Universe. Otherwise known as God, Allah, YHWH, Great Spirit, Brahman, Imana, and The Turning of the Shade. I will search for a knowledge of that Force, for a “knowing” that I may carry home with me.
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For more reflections go to the complete set of excerpts at: A Confirmed City Girl looks for God in a Monastery.