Sunday, October 13, 2013

Seasonal affective disorder?

During an office tidy-up session, I found a sheet of paper with a few lines written this time last year during the annual Ty Mawr Associates' Day meeting. We were invited to draw or write something that reflected on being there together at Michaelgarth as a group of people pledged to accompany the Sisters of the Sacred Cross in their life of contemplative prayer and closeness to nature in their beautiful hillside location. 
It was a fairly overcast day with only moments when the landscape shone in a way that is familiar to all who have visited there, in season and out of season. In the absence of blue sky and sunshine, I struggle to rise to my usual sense of appreciation of the world about me. I guess I also struggle with the absence of regular attachment and belonging to a close-knit everyday discipleship community now that I serve as an itinerant locum pastor. So, these few lines are a muted echo of this experience, as much as they are a weather report.

Autumnal day at Ty Mawr


Overcast sky
a random tapestry-
filaments of white and grey

Sombre does no justice
to the mood
when heaven's glory is concealed

Not in the cloud, but
underneath
is where we wait
consoled by fleeting sunbeams.


J.K.K. - 20.10.12

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