I seek solitude. Time to be alone with my thoughts. Time to think, to slow down, to see more of life than the physical.
Our physical bodies get in the way. Aren’t we more than joints and flesh and marrow and bone? Surely there is more to us than can be touched and seen.
We are a compilation of experiences. We’re running on hay bales in summertime, first kisses, wading the creek at camp, harsh words from adolescent friends, and the sum of our parents and children and the wind through the ages.
It’s so easy to hide. To duck behind skin and bones and never be seen, never see ourselves — to never really know another human being.
But all of this solitude, it can become empty. What is life if not lived with another? What is the purpose of all this pondering if it cannot be shared? Is it possible to get so wrapped up inside my own head that I go mad?
Because who sits at a restaurant and listens to fountains trickle and traffic buzz and jazz play and wonders what the person at the next table looks like under their skin?
We’re bound by these bodies. We’re bound by form and substance and the need for sustenance and connection. Wouldn’t it be easier if we were only matter taking up space and passing time?
But we are not. We long to transcend the physical.
The pragmatic part of me calls it a foolish waste of energy, thinking and writing of things that barely exist. But there are thoughts to be thought and words to be said that are mine alone. I’ve fought them back with work and responsibility and pragmatism and yet they will not relent. So, here I am talking crazy on a Monday about images that can only be seen in shadow.
A battle rages between tangible and intangible, the physical and spiritual, the visible and the invisible. The soul longs to make peace with them both, to relinquish this bifurcated life.
We are more than physical organisms. We cannot be defined by an elegant arrangement of molecules. We are relational beings with a creative nature made in the image of One who is worthy. We have a longing deep inside that only One can fill — an unquenchable fire that only He can ignite and fuel with His perfect oil.
And if we are going to be whole, if we are going to be at peace with who we were made to be, then we must say ‘Yes’ to the fire and accept the burning to see things not only as they are but as the one day will be. We must seek to merge the seen with the unseen and to know and be known, not only by the great Source but also by one another.
for our God is a consuming fire. a
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot. b
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. c
Linking today with Imperfect Prose:








