So , when your next Greatest Enemy approaches – when your next Wilderness arrives with its teeth snarling and its sword drawn , it is no longer required that you bar your door ... No , when your fear growls deep within you and your pain howls near in the night , you don ' t have to lock them out or shun them away ... When you would just as soon fend them off or slice them to ribbons , you can choose instead to show them the Honor they deserve . You can choose to open your door , you can choose to invite them inside , you can choose to seat them at your banquet table , and then you can choose to ease their voracious hungers with generous helpings of reverent gratitude & humble graciousness .
In closing , the Wilderness will always find you , my Friends . Its drive is insatiable and its allies are unconquerable . And yet , there is a way through its times of cold & shadow . And this path through the Wilderness requires not the " strength " of self-protection , but the ability to be gentle with others even while suffering in pain . It requires not the " power " of your bravery , but the ability to be Kind to others even in the face of your fear .
Amen … Let it be so .
( image above by Katerina Plotnikova )
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