Understanding Deeply

Today I had the wonderful experience of taking a walk with a dear friend--someone I've known since high school, someone I've traded husband stories and kid stories and life stories with for a span of decades. We walked together on this beautiful summer morning--cool and cloudy--and I listened to the joyful things happening around her and felt how in love with life she was. I heard myself offering stories from my own life and learning right now, but I was very aware of something different--on a deeper level, in our hearts, there was such a feeling of connection and understanding that the words I used seemed so little and weak in comparison. I'm a person who works with words for a living and I know the power we give them--words can join and words can separate. They can bring reconciliation or division. They can carry thoughts of love or judgments that wound. But today, walking and loving, I understood clearly the difference between experiencing joining and talking about it. Lord, keep me close and draw me to continually understand you better--not just talk to and with and about you. :) k