Out of the Hermitage Too Much

During that past two days I have had to be out of the house too much.  Today the car had to go to Louisville for repairs, and that meant being out of the house for the entire day, being around all that strange energy, and now I feel like someone who has bitten an electric wire.  Raven's Bread is a bi-monthly newsletter for hermits, and once they asked for input from their readers about "how do you handle being away from your hermitage for long periods of time?"  Almost every response was "I do everything possible to not be away for more than two hours a day, and avoid ever having to spend the night somewhere else."

Well, I can honestly say that I am beginning to understand that to be the truth.  I've been home for hours now and the jittery feeling has still not totally left me.  Perhaps an hour before the icons with the Lord will help.  And, yes, I know I do not have to be before the icons to be with God, but they help me delineate a sacred space in a spare bedroom slowly being turned into a chapel.  When I am in there with my eight day candles burning, the icons glistening, my breathing begins to take on a deeper rhythm, regular and seducing me into total silence.

At this time I must confess I do not know how people live without the silence I am able to keep.  I once lived in a noisy, busy world, and now it is a miracle in my eyes that the result was not nervous collapse.  To all of you who do live in the world, I salute your stamina. 

Please write with prayer requests.  You may make them as a comment and if you want, I will keep them private.  My purpose is to pray.