A Monk, a Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life
Written by August Turak and Illustrated by Glenn Harrington
Take time to sit down with this book and go on a journey. A journey with a man looking for the meaning in life. A journey into the life of a Trappist monastery, Mepkin Abbey. A journey of exploration and discovery and rest.
This book needs time. Time to sit and gaze at the beauty of the pictures. Time to contemplate the meaning of the words. Time to ponder the significance of life. Time to reflect on the implications of the message. Time to meditate on the joy of being.
Once you’ve taken the time to go on this gentle journey, perhaps you’ll discover that life isn’t as complicated as you once thought. It’s not all about mastering the difficult. It’s not all about doing great things, but just doing the next thing that is set before you. Like holding the door for a stranger. Or cooking a meal for your family and friends. Or sharing a kind word. Or holding an umbrella for a stranger.
As George MacDonald expresses so competently in his poem, Willie’s Question, perhaps the purpose of life isn’t something we have to struggle to find, but perhaps it’s the simple thing right in front of us.
from Willie’s Question, by George MacDonald
Father:
Think: is there nothing, great or small,
You ought to go and do?
Willie:
Let me think-I ought to feed
My rabbits. I went away
In such a hurry this morning! Indeed
They’ve not had enough today!
Father:
That is his whisper low!
That is his very word!
You had only to stop and listen, and so
Very plainly you heard!
That duty’s the little door:
You must open it and go in;
There is nothing else to do before,
There is nowhere else to begin.
You are turning from his call
If you let that duty wait;
You would not think any duty small
If you yourself were great.
Ah, Willie! what if it were
Quite another way to fall?
What if the greatness itself lie there-
In knowing that you are small?
In seeing the good so good
That you feel poor, weak, and low;
And hungrily long for it as for food,
With an endless need to grow?
The man who was Lord of fate,
Born in an ox’s stall,
Was great because he was much too great
To care about greatness at all.
Ever and only he sought
The will of his Father good;
Never of what was high he thought,
But of what his Father would.
You long to be great; you try;
You feel yourself smaller still:
In the name of God let ambition die;
Let him make you what he will.
Who does the truth, is one
With the living Truth above:
Be God’s obedient little son,
Let ambition die in love.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.
Leave a Reply