New from Old

I've been away from social media. I no longer felt the need to be visible, and I had nothing in particular to say. In my former life, I had already said enough. I didn't miss my own voice.

Gradually, I learned to be silent – to listen to others more than myself, and to look more closely at the world around me.
At first, it felt difficult. Now it even feels easier to say nothing than to start writing.

But some things don't leave you alone.
Maybe those are the very things that should be said out loud – not because you want to speak, but because they carry something that might touch another person, stir an echo inside someone.

The most important lessons in life are often not found in books or courses, but in what Life itself has shaped within us – in how we've allowed it to do its work, and let it make us into something new and beautiful.

I recently spent a month in Idaho, visiting many friends. One family I met there had restored an old train car to its former glory. I can only imagine how many hours and workdays it had taken.

It has been the same with me. I have been shaped, and I have yielded to that work. It has been a continuous surrender – and it is not yet over. It has not been easy, nor should it be. 

Gold is refined in the fire, and the blacksmith strikes the iron many times before it becomes what he desires.