LONELINESS

(Notes from a church class)

I asked a group of congregants why they wanted to attend a class I was teaching on Essential Spirituality.

They said:
So much is missing in my life.
I feel disconnected.
I need something like a hug for my spirit.
I want peace.
I want to be accountable.
I find all of this scary.
I am looking for wholeness.
I looking for healing.
I want more awareness.
I want to be present.
I want to be a part of something bigger.
I want to learn more about “home” and “homecoming.”
I want to pray, read and meditate.
I want to be part of community.
I want to remember.
I want to re-connect.
I fwant to find peace.
I want to be held accountable.
I want to be closer to God.

— —

Love is a Deep and a Dark and a Lonely
Carl Sandburg

love is a deep and a dark and a lonely
and you take it deep take it dark
and take it with a lonely winding
and when the winding gets too lonely
then may come the windflowers
and the breath of wind over many flowers
winding its way out of many lonely flowers
waiting in rainleaf whispers
waiting in dry stalks of noon
wanting in a music of windbreaths
so you can take love as it comes keening
as it comes with a voice and a face
and you make a talk of it
talking to yourself a talk worth keeping
and you put it away for a keen keeping
and you find it to be a hoarding
and you give it away and yet it stays hoarded

like a book read over and over again
like one book being a long row of books
like leaves of windflowers bending low
and bending to be never broken