I loved this quote by Thomas Merton: “He who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity, and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others.” I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of service and of taking care of myself at the same time. I tend to do better on the service than self-care. I particularly resonated with Merton’s use of freedom. Freedom, real freedom, is deep and all-encompassing. We can’t really serve until we are free. We can’t love until we love from freedom. It’s important to remember to nourish ourselves as we nourish each other. If we don’t, we would not have anything of real value to offer if we don’t have it ourselves.
I also was intrigued by his discussion of emptying ourselves and being open to whatever God would say to us and however he chooses to say it. It feels like God speaks to us in ways our soul can hear but our ears cannot. Sometimes, I close my eyes and try to listen for his song, the one that connects us all together as one, the song of life humming around me. I haven’t heard it often, but I’ve heard it enough to know it’s there and that, as Thomas Merton says, hearing it changes everything else. Hearing that song changed my perspective of who we are and what we are connected to. I am grateful he sings it; It is a song worth listening for.
365-09 #303