Toward the Eye of the Storm

Photo courtesy NSSL

I have only seen the effects of a tornado, have no idea what it might be like to be caught—outside—when the winds suddenly occur. I imagine I would be tossed here and there while desperately trying to run from it, to run toward any shelter (given my lapse of memory about what we were all taught: “prostrate yourself in a ditch and protect your head!”) I would surely be looking for another human being, equally in a state of panic, who might give advice on where to go, how to escape, where home might be. I can only imagine the debris:  falling and flying objects/trees/dust; no sunlight to distinguish east from west, panic within and without. Where is my home where I can shut doors, draw curtains, fervently pray and fearfully be with the experience?

Discernment—or any honest searching within one’s self for answers to a problem dealing with faith, a job, a relationship, a change of some dimension -- can be a similar kind of experience. I may feel as if there were a veritable storm within, but with repercussions outside myself. Could someone please tell me where to go? What to do? What is going on? Why are things so chaotic? Why is there so much debris and so little light?  Who will be affected by my decision? What can I do to save the situation? Or save myself from having to make a decision? Indeed, when will I decide to go to my room, enter the closet of my heart and listen to the still small voice that is longing to be heard, eager to bring peace and a decision?

You may have been in similar circumstances, whether large or insignificant? Tell me about it.  How did you get to the eye of the storm?

Renée Domeier, OSB