“Vicki Woodyard writes close to the bone of grief- a place she knows
intimately- exploring with courage and compassion what it means to be
human, to experience deep loss, to continue to receive life in the face of
what stretches us beyond what we thought we could endure.”

~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer, author of “The Invitation”
Resting in God

These days I rest at the still point much of the time. And that is what Peter and I did when we sent our emails back and forth. Peter had seen through the futility of effort. After all, his body had rebelled in a very symbolic way. It said wordlessly, “Go beyond me.”

And so he did just that. What else was left?

And I would retreat to my Mac at the end of another long day of caregiving to rest in what was also beyond my body.

In that ethereal air, Peter and I connected by a slender thread of reality. When everything seems broken, we turn to confession.

Perhaps all he and I did was enter the confessional of the keyboard. Now that he and Bob are gone, I find that my life is a respite from effort. I do little besides go to Tai Chi and the occasional kirtan, where Indian chants resonate into the open heart.

Rest is needed more than ever.

The restless thoughts and feelings drum at us incessantly.

Be still and know. Be still and know.

And in that knowing, something splendid can arise.

The unknown finds its voice right here in the knowing.

Silence and rest.

Out of that, everything meaningful arises.

Vicki Woodyard,
Author, Bigger Than The Sky: A Radical Awakening