Thoughts on Thoreau

"I went to the woods to live deliberately...I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life...and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Matthew Kelly quotes the great trancendentalist to illustrate the need for the forest in our daily lives. If we have not set aside a place or a time in which we can leave the cacaphony of daily life, we cannot ever truly find peace. And without peace the soul is ever restless leading us to another famous conclusion that, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation," which very well may be Thoreau as well. Another that springs to mind comes from a saint who spoke the truth: "My heart will not rest until it rests in you Lord."

What is our idea of leisure today? We often plunk ourselves down in front of the television or computer and call it a break. Still, what sort of effects do these breaks have upon us? There is room for such things in our lives, but to truly be recharged I must agree with Kelly that we must hearken to the classroom of silence in our lives. Whether we find an empty room or truly find a place in God's natural forest outdoors, we need this solitude, and in it the Lord can speak volumes to us. However still I think that we can go too far. My previous blog discusses the words of Thomas Merton. There are some who think he went too far, and I would tentatively agree with them. For a successful, fulfilling life is not achieved by simply focusing on one aspect. To become most fully alive, we must learn to do all things well. Eat well, sleep well, speak well, read well, pray well, and love well. On top of these come our ambitions, those pursuits that we take on with the wealth of talents and skills the Lord has bestowed upon us. Life is truly a harmony, and when all elements are in sync, we can truly find our point of actualization. A point from which we are so at peace, and in such harmony with ourselves, that we can literally choose whatever we desire from this life. And beautifully so, we cannot have reached this moment without a relationship with the Lord, and so in our finest hour of greatest potential, we will put our lives to His purposes on this earth.

For truly man's pursuits are worth nothing unless they draw him ever nearer to his Creator and Lord. Would that we would find the value of silence in our own lives in order that we can accomplish all that of which we are capable, and then put our awesome powers in the hands of God!!!