Was reminded of words I noted from Rebecca Elson, written at a hinge point in her life, a brief epiphany of her own self, her worth and her self-worth, while sitting on a train pulling out of Paris. Seemed to me then, and seems to me now, she had captured a sense of life's precious possibilities, glimpsed the adventure and the cost of living as well as we can with the circumstances that we make, and that make us – the things that happen and that often happen to us.
Reading it I am aware of the blessings that seep unnoticed into the soil out of which we grow, the friendships and gifts that irrigate and prevent us becoming arid, the changes and challenges that push us on an outward journey we might not have chosen, but which is our journey, and the sense that we are made for more than we know, and capable because graced and toucched by the mighty love of God, of what medieval theologians called God-given capax dei, the capacity for God. Elson hesitated about how we think of God – she was a brilliant astro-physicist whose insight into the nature of matter, the universe, its origins and its majestic mystery, left her intellectually humbled and agnostic – but never closed to the possibility of the God whose love moves the sun and other stars.
"So much to look forward to, so many
possibilities, places, people. The thing is to accept that life is an
adventure, and any adventure has difficult moments….Be gentle, be attentive,
be understanding. Make life easy for yourself. There is a kind of joy of
movement, a moment almost like flying inside yourself, soaring with the sun and
the music, and the train moving out of Paris. Leaving behind something so good, so solid to return to…a very beautiful moment on the train leaving Paris, of that energy which propels you through life. Places with fresh air, and sunshine, and the sea, and Spiring on its way." (Rebecca Elson, Responsibility to Awe, [ precise reference is – in the book somewhere in a box somewhere in the spare bedroom!])
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Living Wittily is coming back to normal – not quite there yet as I'm still accessing through the slow dongle! Moderated comments will stay on till I have regular and easy access to moderate myself. Meantime activity here is recovering at the same pace as I am recovering 🙂
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