Clarity

Being able to see it not as easy as it seems.  Real, clear, and in focus sight often eludes the best.  The simple explanation lies is the simply fact that seeing is more than something you do with your eyes.  It involves awareness, a willingness to see beyond what your mind is revealing, and the openness of mind to begin the comprehension process.  If everything is in place the final piece required is often the most difficult.  You must be willing to see in order to see.
 
Yesterday evening I found myself sitting in the sauna at the Russian Bath House in New York.  It was bitterly cold outside.  Even with layers the body began to go numb within minutes.  The bright sun of the morning had given way to a dull grey sky at dusk.  Inside it was crowded.  People were everywhere!  The combination of cold and a day off from work motivated everyone to seek refuge in the same place.  I found myself in a secluded corner.  Two hot walls and the wall of the stone oven protected me on three sides.  It was as if an invisible wall had painted me into my little part of the room.  I had found refuge.
 
I don’t know when I lost track of the conversations and movement around me.  I found myself in a quiet, virtually silent and still space of restful communion.  It was as if the blistering heat had formed it own bubble around me. 
 
I know many see sitting in a sauna as a form of torture.  For me, in that moment in time, it was exactly what I needed to gain clarity.  There’re times when the unthinkable is required.  In an old story’s moment, “that's when God will whistle for the flies at the headwaters of Egypt's Nile, and whistle for the bees in the land of Assyria.  They'll come and infest every nook and cranny of this country.  There'll be no getting away from them.” (Isaiah 7.18, 19)  Instead of running, stop, take the hit, and reflect.  We give clarity birth.