Keep awake
My Dear People,
"...and [she] played the exquisite Chopin Prelude No. 2 in A minor, the notes of the slow movement like raindrops on birch leaves, smoke drifting by, an anguished old man pacing in the grass..."
Garrison Keillor. Describing his experience of hearing a young woman transform an otherwise seemingly unremarkable evening by way of an impromptu performance, leaving him "feeling buoyed up" for days afterward.
Reading Keillor's column left me feeling that same way. As did Verlyn Klinkenborg's latest column, also, like Keillor's, from this last week. Whenever I see a column by either of them, I am sure to read it and am rarely, if ever, disappointed. Actually, I often feel, not just buoyed up, but exhilarated.
Why? What is it about the two of them, and the way they write?
As well as I can put my finger on it, it is not merely about the way they write, but the way they live. Open. Open to the world, to life. Paying attention.
As Jesus said to us, his disciples, "Keep awake."
With,
I pray, eyes wide open,
your
brother in Christ,
Wallace+
