Unless there is a still center
in the middle of the storm ...
Unless a person amidst of all their activities
preserves a secret room in their heart
where they stand alone before God ...
Unless we do this,
we will lose all sense of spiritual direction
and be torn to pieces.
Our life has not been an ascent
up one side of a mountain and down the other.
We did not reach a peak,
only to decline and die.
We have been as drops of water,
born in the ocean and sprinkled on the earth
in a gentle rain.
We became a spring,
and then a stream,
and finally a river flowing deeper and stronger,
nourishing all it touches
as it nears its home once again.