“I come into the peace of wild things […] and am free.”
-- Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things”
Along with the scariness of the storm that struck the East Coast yesterday and last night, there was, for me, a strange sense of peace in the midst of the wild winds. There were times when I felt almost serene, times when I was somewhat anxious and yet also feeling afloat on a cloud of almost perfect peace. The winds were roaring around our house and bending the biggest trees in unbelievable ways, and yet there was sometimes stillness inside me, and sometimes an honest smile on my face. Admittedly, I occasionally felt like crawling under a cover and crying out for the storm to stop, but those times were offset by this strange peacefulness I’m speaking of – a peacefulness in the presence of the wildest storm the East has seen in years. Wendell Berry found peace among the wild things of our world, but is it possible, too, that the harshest storms can spread, along with their awe-inspiring winds, feelings of peace and appreciation for this passionate universe we’re lucky to live in?
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