I am The lonely hermit
The Lonely hermit Not much is known about the Hermit. When he was young, he wanted fame and success, and he wanted to be liked and popular. He was a very able man, and he got all these things. His star was rising, and he was talked about. But one day, he realised that all this was just dust and ashes. He came to understand himself. He was not an extrovert person, but a quiet one - he had a loneliness inside which did not frighten him. In fact he longed to embrace it. Slowly he cast away all his success, and turned to his inner desert. For years he walked alone there, telling no one of his experiences with the Lord. The Lord Finally, he emerged, with a passion for just one thing - his relationship with the Lord - and it was a frighteningly honest and open one. He never hesitated, often in very challenging terms, to ask and ask and ask. In this respect, he had something of Job in him. He would not take no for an answer. His struggles to know God more are revealed in his writings, which are often brief and often unclear. The unclarity is part of his way - if we want to share his understanding, then we are going to have to accept that within an intense and intimate relationship, clarity often gives way to feeling. The Lord s heart To enter the Lonely Hermit's world is to feel. This is what makes him so uncomfortable, so challenging and so disturbing. But these challenges, if accepted, can open the way to us seeing, with his eyes, the crystal clearness of the Lord s love, the Lord s feeling and the Lord s heart. The Lonely Hermit Estate This material may be downloaded and copied for personal, group or Church use. It is not to be changed and it is not to be sold. It may be used in Church publications news letters, magazines etc. For copyright contact The Takk Trust. E: jimsmithghana@yahoo.co.uk
Morning gives us an idea about the Hermit s spirituality. He doesn t just get up to pray. Every morning is a rapture for him. For the mystical Christians, rapture was a stunning and all encompassing experience of the presence of God. In the 21st century, we find this hard to grasp. Just imagine that every morning, on waking, we were to have the experience of Revelation chapters 4 and 5! That s rapture, and the hermit experiences it, longs for it, or demands it every morning. Every morning! Morning Darkness cracked by dawn s arising Light floods away all fear. Engulfed by Love s arising Energised by joy Raptured by Love I rise to serve.
I am your song is a progression from Morning. This is how the Hermit is going to live. He sees himself ass the Lord s melody the tune which accompanies the Lord as he sustains his creation. That's O.K., but look at how the Hermit ends his poem I am your song. sing me! No question of the Hermit walking quietly behind the Lord. He pushes himself into the Lord s face, demanding to be sung! I am your song The song of joy to heal The song of love to hold The song of hope to fulfil I am your song The song of beauty to value The song of touch to cherish The song of life to create I am your song The song of forgiveness to release me The song of creation to restore me The song of peace to calm me Love of my love Sing me
There is a price to be paid for those who want to be the Lord's song we become aware of our own poor spiritual state. The Hermit discovers this in a very painful poem. But to his amazement, his confession of his own tardiness brings from the Lord one of the deepest words to be found in all these poems, or those of Father Michael the Solitary, or Gentle Claire. The harder the path, the greater the blessing, if only we have the courage to walk the path in honesty and integrity. Coming close to my Love I saw how sad was my offering. The pain, the sorrow, the failure weighed me down until my love broke and lay shattered on the floor. I cried at the folly of my life, the shallow things, the waste. It s O.K. said my Love, I have dealt with that. and he showed me his hands. Such love
The Hermit wrote Rejection towards the end of his life. He found that his approach to God was misunderstood and rejected. This happened so many times, that he began to wonder if he too would be rejected by the One he had tried so desperately to understand. From this agony comes the poem Rejection. I think it speaks for itself or at least it will speak to those who have known rejection in their walk with the Lord. Knowing the pain of rejection He does not reject. Unworthiness demands a crown of shame yet he only wants to love. He wears the thorns so that I need not. In the presence of such love what can I say? I see the broken man I have become and grieve for the waste of my life. He touches me. Love too deep for words. I live again
More beautiful than diamonds was the Hermit's final poem. After this, his notebook was blank, and he died. Let s hope and pray that, like him, when our day comes to go home, we too will rest in the garden of his delights. More beautiful than diamonds. Resting in the garden of your delights I take your beauty into my hands And I am full. But when I leave, I cannot take your beauty with me For it is yours. I mourn my loss. Then the Lord spoke to me. Beauty of my beauty, Why do you cry? Because of what I am, And the waste of my life. The he came and held me, and I was whole. Beautiful