Dear Friends ~ Heart wrenchingly, a dear friend just learned that his remaining lifetime has been reduced, in short order, from years to months and now perhaps mere weeks. What kind of courage will it take for him to face into dying in such a rapidly accelerated pace? This last journey will bear the echoes of all the days that have come before- pressed down and distilled into slender threads of love to hold onto and be held by. And how do we, the living, learn to wake up each morning with gratitude for the gift of another sunrise, another breath? For every one of us will also die; yet unless we are given the precise knowledge of its imminence we may miss the lesson. We have the choice to awaken to the blessings all around us or to take precious moments for granted and fill our days with soulless busyness. Knowing we shall all die one day should perhaps teach us how to live more generously, attentively, appreciatively.

This is the last year.
There will be no other,
but heartless nature
seemingly relents.
Never has a winter sun
spilled so much light,
never have so many flowers
dared such early bloom.
The air is brilliant, sharp.
Never have I taken
such long, long breaths.

~ Robert Friend, written as he was dying.

There is a moment when you realize that you are going to have to die in reality, not just pretend to die. Not just read about dying, not just recite Rumi late at night, but really, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, go into the darkness of the Love of God and really surrender, a moment when you realize that to do that, you will need Divine courage.

~ from The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi by Andrew Harvey 

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...
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you...
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road 

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost 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. 

~ Thomas Merton. Read more: A Year with Thomas Merton

Having the faith to take life one piece at a time- to live it in the knowledge that there is something of God in this for me now, here, at this moment- is of the essence of happiness. It is not that God is a black box full of tests and trials and treats. It is that life is a step on the way to a God who goes the way with us. However far, however perilous. 

~ Joan Chittister in Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light

If you have your attention on what is, see its fullness in every moment, you will discover the dance of the divine in every leaf, in every petal, in every blade of grass, in every rainbow, in every rushing stream, in every breath of every living being. 

~ Deepak Chopra in The Return of Merlin

Stand tall

by the water
know no fear or loneliness
let this love
cross you over
let this song
bid you well 

~ lyrics from "Stand Tall" by Rebecca Riots. Hear from from the album: "Gardener"

Each of us, as we journey through life, has the opportunity to find and to give his or her unique gift. Whether that gift is great or small in the eyes of the world does not matter at all-not at all; it is through the finding and the giving that we may come to know the joy that lies at the center of both the dark times and the light. 

~ Helen Luke in The Way of Woman

George Buttrick, an imaginative preacher, wrote poignantly, "We die with half our music in us." How sad, not that we die, but that we leave so much unsung, not having exhausted our melody. 

~ by Marv And Nancy Hiles in  All the Days of My Life

People walk around sad because they don't know what to do with their future. You have this minute right now. What are you doing with it? ...If you are filled with joy for one minute, then you will know what to do with the next minute also. We are given this minute, not tomorrow. Sadness is very much concerned with what I don't have, and I really don't have tomorrow yet. The Truth is, I am always standing before nothingness, because I am nonexistent yet for the next minute. I'm not here yet. Time isn't there. The world isn't there. The world is here...right now! 

~ R. Shlomo Arlebach

The old turtle looked at the boy. "But your questions have been answered"... "Remember then that the most important time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side. For these, my dear boy, are the answers to what is most important in the world. And this is why we are here." 

~ by Jon J. Muth  in  The Three Questions: Based on a Story By Leo Tolstoy

There is a way to live that makes the angels cry out
in rapture. There is
a way to live that makes
each star a cell.
Come stand with me here, it is
cold I know, and silent,
nothing is happening.
The next breath, and the next, is the new life. 

~ Morgan Farley

Grief gives the full measure of love, and it is somehow reassuring to learn, even by suffering, how large and powerful love is. 

~ Wendell Berry.  Read more:  The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry

When you spend time with a dying person, you discover that the human spirit has the power to come forth in the middle of crisis and suffering in ways we can't imagine. Over and over, I have seen ordinary people- afraid, angry, confused- awaken into profound wisdom and understanding. 

~ by Joan Halifax  in BEING WITH DYING

Learn how to die and  you learn how to live. 

~ Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
To melt and be like a running brook
That sings its melody to the night.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
And give thanks for another day of loving.

~ Kahlil Gibran. Read more: Kahlil Gibran, The Collected Works

Return of the Light : Restorying for the Winter Solstice,  November 30-December 2, 2018  at Rolling Ridge Study Retreat.

Or schedule your own Personal Retreat.

Friends of Silence is devoted to nurturing those who reverence silence, prayer, contemplation, the Divine Guest, and the Oneness of all creation. Personal retreat can be a wonderful discipline for those seeking the life-giving empowerment that derives from the Silence. We have partnered with Still Point Mountain Retreat to be able to offer space for personal retreat for our members, whether you come as an individual, couple, family, or small group. The wilderness setting of Still Point provides the quiet and solitude necessary for an ideal personal retreat experience.

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