Morning Skate

 

Snow on the way so I headed out early in the morning to do some skating before the ice was covered.
Skating is my new addiction: I can't get enough. Can't get enough of that feeling of letting go, both physically and mentally. That's saying a lot considering I'm not very good, but I've lived my entire life with more enthusiasm than skill so this is perfectly in line with who I am.

And this morning, I went by myself. Just me and the frozen pond and eventually the snowflakes.
As soon as I got my wobbly feet under me and began doing my circles, I dropped out of my mind and just concentrated on skating. Into that circling, that repetition, that unthinking concentration came the ideas: a title I've been waiting for, a paragraph for my sermon this Sunday, and then the thoughts about finding this stillness in order to hear what you need to hear -- not from the world but from YOU, from yourself.

I know this -- over and over in my life, the truth of my own voice has been proven but it still doesn't really sink it. The truth is found not on social media, not in the television, not even in our favourite music; the truth is found in stillness -- when we are QUIET, when our minds are focused on an activity that doesn't require its attention.
When the only things going in circles are your feet and the only noise in your ears is the shusk-shusk of a pair of skates.