Solitude, Stillness, Silence

There is a solitude that makes us know we are not alone.  And in that solitude, we find the sweet company of those we've loved and lost.  In that solitude, we are renewed by the presence of people long since gone.  They walk alongside us.  They warm us again with their love.  They offer us the support and direction that only they can give.  They're not ghosts.  They're not saints.  I don't know what they are.  Maybe nothing more than memories.  But the joy of their companionship can only come through solitude.

There is a stillness from which our best actions spring.  It is the stillness that gives our spirits courage, the stillness that makes our bodies leopard-like, ready to spring.  It moves us from complacency and carries us out to change the world.  There is a stillness that surprises us with its power, and causes us to surprise ourselves.  

There is a silence from which all the best words flow.  It is the source of our wisest speaking, our most inspired thinking.  It is a silence that whispers joy and hope into our life's most unexpected moments.  It speaks of something bigger than ourselves.  It convinces us of things that no essay or debate could ever do.  It makes us to know an embrace that is stronger than death.  

I used to go to the woods for discovery, adventure, and escape...and I still seek those from time to time.  But the older I grow, the more I value the forest's other gifts: Solitude, Stillness, and most of all Silence.