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Restorative solitude for strength

In today’s reflection, author Havercamp writes about Howard Thurmon and his writings about withstanding violence with strength. Thurmon’s writing influenced Martin Luther King Jr., so much so that he kept a copy of Thurmon’s book with him during the Montgomery bus strike.
I was struck today by the image of Thurmon as a boy watching a giant oak (I am imagining one of those huge Live Oak trees found in the South) during a storm, where the tree was able to withstand the toss of the wind.
Withstanding storms is not the same as being a doormat and allowing violence within one's life. There is a line between abuse and strength. Thurmon is writing about strength of character and spiritual backbone and being able to stand up to the forces of society.  
Thurmon’s concept of strength to withstand storms, especially in today’s political climate resonated with me today. If one watches the news too much, we can get tossed around in the mental wind, not knowing what to believe, unsure of whom we should believe. It is in time away from the world in quiet reflection and prayer, that God can restore us to him and strengthen us for the journey ahead, so we can indeed withstand the storms that life brings.
Poet and artist Jan Richardson offered some words in her reflection regarding the coming Holy Week:
It can be challenging enough to walk with intention into a future that is unknown. But to move with purpose toward a destination that is known, and fearsome? That is quite a different path, one that requires grace and courage we cannot conjure on our own.
Such a path offers a curious freedom, too, because it invites us to enter our future not as victims, helpless before our fate, but with intention and discernment, knowing that the path we choose will hold its occasions of dying and rising. When we can meet those occasions with courage and grace, the perils of the chosen path begin to lose their power over us.
Courage. Grace. As we round toward Palm Sunday and Holy Week, these are the words I’m noticing, the words I want to carry at this point in the path. © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.comhttp://paintedprayerbook.com/

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