Like a Wild Animal

Creating Space for God

Parker Palmer, on why humans need solitude to listen to their souls speak:

The soul is like a wild animal — tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, self-sufficient. It knows how to survive in hard places. But it is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense underbrush. If we want to see a wild animal, we know that the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods yelling for it to come out.

But if we will walk quietly into the woods, sit patiently by the base of the tree, and fade into our surroundings, the wild animal we seek might put in an appearance.

And King David, centuries ago, on what it means to allow God to be with us in that place of silence, and waiting for him to do what is needed:

Indeed, towards God my entire being is silent;
from him my deliverance comes.
Indeed, he is my crag and my deliverance,
my turret—I shall not slip far.

…

Indeed, be silent towards God, my entire being,
because from him my hope comes.
Indeed, he’s my crag, my deliverance,
my turret—I shall not slip.
On God rests my deliverance and my splendour;
my strong rock, my shelter, is God in person.
Trust in him at all times, you people,
pour out your heart before him;
God is our shelter.

Psalm 62:1-2; 5-8 (The Bible for Everyone: A New Translation)