You know how I love that scene in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, in which Aragorn, troubled and unsure, diverts from the trail to sprint up the hill to sit a moment in the Seat of Seeing. In the story, what he sees mirrors his own uncertainty; all is murky and he winds up having to trust his heart for his next steps. For some reason the idea of a Seat of Seeing has always resonated deeply within me. I think the reason has to do with deliberate intention. When you choose to sit still in a Seat of Seeing, you are really asking to see, asking to know, asking to be led. And I know we can’t always KNOW…but I also know we can always be led, always hear our next right step.
So last week, while in Hendersonville, walking a mountain trail, I came to this rock formation and immediately I thought, a Seat of Seeing! I want to write about what happened next, what I felt and thought there, what it seemed to me You said there.
Like Aragorn, I was seeking direction. So I left the trail and walked up the slight incline to sit on the lowest of the rocks. There was a perfect ledge there, big enough for me to sit and even lay back. No sooner had I sat, wondering what will I see here (thinking maybe a bird would fly by or something), then I heard in what I have come to believe is Your voice speaking in my own mind thoughts I know did not originate in my own thinking. You said, “your future.” I did not expect that! That was startling and revelatory in a way I still don’t understand. Later in the week, I had a chance to sit on another rock, this one on flat ground with a tiny heart shape in its form. There, You said to me: You have need of patience. Yes, Lord. I know.
The whole experience, these two rocks, these two messages, a couple days apart, were connected in my mind and heart. Future…patience. I told someone recently what I read years ago: you can drive across country at night seeing only the next 50 feet in front of you. Sometimes (ok, all the time) I want to see way down the road. But You are calling me to trust. To trust, and to flow. That is what I believe You are saying to my life right now.
Look back at your own words above. Aragorn had to trust his heart. So do you. You have to trust that I Am speaking to your heart, yes. But you also have to trust your heart, in and of itself, for your heart is connected to My Heart. This is where your doubts arise. You question your decisions. And what have I told you about that?
You told me to choose from Love.
Exactly. If you choose from Love, you will never choose amiss, which is what Aragorn feared he was doing in the tale, choosing amiss. You cannot choose amiss if you choose from Love.
But what if things don’t work out?
You mean, what if the outcome is not what you originally envisioned?
Exactly!
If you hitch your choice to Love to a specific outcome or a specific set of circumstances that you plan out in advance, then you are not actually choosing Love above all. Remember, the choice to Love does not mean that you bow down to abuse or that you go along with others’ choices that are clearly not based in Love. Love will give you the courage to say yes, and also to say no. Love gives you the patience to wait, to be still, to listen, to be led. The important thing, the only important thing, is to choose from Love. Love’s flow will always, always move you in the right direction. Follow that flow, follow your heart, and you will be following My Voice, all the time, each and every time.
You also reminded me of that old hymn, He hides my soul in the cleft of the rock, and covers me there with His hand. I just remembered that, looking at the photograph. As I was getting back to my feet, sort of climbing back out of the wedge, the cleft, You brought that hymn to mind. And it was comforting and scary all at once.
Why scary, little one? Do you not believe I Myself Am choosing from Love?
Of course. But the world isn’t. And even in Love, people leave.
People die, you mean.
Yes. And it is hard.
You are still very earth-bound, and earth-bound is who I made you, all of you, to be. Remember, I created this earth, this beautiful earth, for you, as a gift–for a season. In this season you are in the body. After this season you will be in My Body, which is deathless, timeless, ageless. And healed. Healed of any manifestation that is not-Love. Imagine that! Who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t long for that? That is your future, your destiny. But before that future, you have chapters yet to live on earth, in your body, choosing the Love that is Eternal. Living here, seeing Beyond. That is what I Am calling you more and more to do. To live both/and, remember? To see, to hear, to share both/and. Both IN the earthly body AND In My Heavenly one. To flow from My Spirit while in an earthly body. To feed the hungry heart, to quench the thirsty soul. You have so many ways to do just that! Some will receive in one way and others will receive in a different way. Lead and be led from Love. Always, always, from Love.