Prayer for Peace

For weeks, I’ve been hankering to go outside to the yard and just sit. But like most of us who are supposedly retired, I had too much to do. I’ll spare you the list. Suffice it to say that everything was unavoidable, important or necessary. Then suddenly, like the early fall rainclouds, my calendar cleared.

I’d been watching the drama of the change of seasons through the window, like a jealous lover married to an unforgiving  schedule.
So why, then, when the moment finally arrived to dally in the sunlit garden, did I feel a wave of anxiety wash through me?

Because, old friends. It took just that long to realize that I didn’t have to hurry less I miss a deadline.  I wasn’t late for my reservation. I hadn’t  absent-mindedly double-booked engagements.  What’s more, I could sit there happy or sad, anxious or floating  for as long as I wanted and the trees, gentle breeze and soaring birds were regardless occupied with doing  themselves, which, of course, is what nature does best.

All of this had just been sitting there all the while, would be there for me however long it took and now that I’m here nobody  would be coming to take it away from me.

When it comes right down to it, doing me is what I do best, too. Not the important things that need to be scheduled in advanced. But to be occupied fully with doing myself, whatever that happens to look like, for as long as I can.  Today, this is not only my purpose. This is my prayer.


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About Carol Orsborn

Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. has written over 30 books including her critically-acclaimed Older, Wiser, Fiercer: The Wisdom Collection and The Spirituality of Age: A Seeker’s Guide to Growing Older with Dr. Robert L. Weber, which was awarded Gold in the Nautilus Book Awards in the category of Aging Consciously. She is founder and curator of Fierce with Age: The Archives of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration and Spirituality housed at CarolOrsborn.com. She is host of the 2 leading book clubs in the field of conscious aging: Sage-ing International's live, virtual The Sage-ing Book Club and the in-person Conscious Aging Book Club, sponsored by Parnassus Books, Nashville. She received her doctorate in the History and Critical Theory of Religion from Vanderbilt University with specialization in the areas of adult spiritual development and ritual studies.