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Surrender

As I get older, I am slowly learning to take myself and my work less seriously. It is the fruit of embracing humility–that monastic virtue whose root is humus, meaning “of the earth.”

At the same time, the more I let go of plans that don’t feed me, and the more I allow myself to go out to bloom, the more I experience a deep sense of peace within myself.  I am becoming the peace I want to see bloom in the world.

In a world of busyness and productivity, we need a lot more uselessness, more being, more poets, artists, and monks who remind us of the beauty we already are if we simply slow down long enough to breathe it in. I say this a lot on this blog in different ways, perhaps because I need to keep hearing it.

What is the note you need to write and leave on the door?  What is waiting to bloom within you given the time to wander the fields?

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

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5 Responses

  1. Thanks for sharing this amazing poem and your reflection upon it. Love the idea of a life in which we allow ourselves the time to bloom with God’s beauty

  2. Great note Tess, I think mine would often say the same. :-)

    You’re welcome Suz, I am so glad you were able to discover this amazing group! Blessings on your art fair, please let me know how it goes, sounds wonderful!

    Thank you so much Kazi, your words are so gracious and filled with gift, your note made me smile deeply this day.

    Blessings to each of you, Christine

  3. Christine I simply love visiting your site, the blessings that you offer through your photography, shared poetry, writings, musings are nourishment for my soul. But much more than this – I feel a divine presense at play here, your site truely is otherworldly and I love hanging out here. Thankyou for the space – my note would say “Gone to Abbey of the Arts”

  4. Christine,
    Lovely picture and lovely poem. I am frantically getting ready for an art fair on Saturday and have been reading but not posting.

    The main thing getting me through…I downloaded three albums of the Soweto Gospel Choir and listen to them while I work. I am crazy about them…huge thanks!!!

    Suz