EMPTINESS, by Jill Ross, A poetic musing, Lent 2024
Embracing emptiness,
Almost unimaginable in a world stuffed with fullness.
Full house, full plate, full pantry, full bank account, full tank, full throttle, full course, full until overflowing, and yet?
There is understated joy in slowly washing off the excess, quieting the stirring, pouring out heaviness, touching tree roots as they enter the earth.
Inhale, exhale, listen as the fullness of the day subsides, listen until there is nothing more to hear and that’s when the song begins.
Emptiness is always fleeting, the vessel soon filling back up with the mundane,
What’s for dinner? Did I turn off the burner, what will I wear? Am I good enough?
And yet?
The lemons are late this year, crows are noisy at dawn, the wind just changed direction. Listen, listen without responding and the beloved you are listening to will tell you, tell you stories beyond your wildest imagination, and you need not reply. Simply marvel and touch the empty space between the words, the rest note, the quiet, the fierceness of the silence, and in time the fullness your voice will come, whole.
Prayer: Gracious God, you are with us always. Bless this journey into the deep places of solitude and emptiness and help us to be transformed and whole as we refill ourselves for the days to come. Amen
Jill Ross