A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive.”

_Henri Nouwen

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A quiet place.

Whether we think about it or not, we all need one.

“A place where peace comes dropping slow…”

I remember a little isolated pond from my boyhood. Swimming in the warm waters, soft mud under my feet, minnows nipping at my legs, being dried off by the warm sun while lying on green grass…

While listening to lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.

Yes, we all need a lake isle of Innisfree, and there is one if we slow down enough to listen.

The ONE THING for today: “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10)

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.