It has now been 5 years this week since I moved house from the home my family and I had spent the previous 23 years in. Being married to a pastor meant that we lived in the manse, the church house whilst we pastored the congregation and local community. We were very happy in both our role and our home and so when we felt a strong calling towards a new form of ministry it was a difficult process to begin the long journey of letting go and embracing a new and unknown future. A friend gave us a copy of the book Benedictus by the wonderful Irish poet and philosopher John O Donohue. In it was a beautiful poem that helped me through those days and gave me hope, it seemed to echo deeply with how my soul was feeling at that time.
A New Beginning
By John O Donohue.
In out of the way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you
Noticing how you willed yourself on
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.