Finding the Words

This is one of those uncertain times of life.  Maybe all times of life are uncertain, but this is one of those times where I'm really aware of it, where I have little familiarity with what is to come, with the place to which I'll be moving, with the way that I will be able to identify myself.  It's a shaky feeling.  And shaky feelings come with more than uncertain times.  There are many things in life that can cause one to feel instability, to wish for some comfort.

This morning, as on many Friday mornings, I connected with the Madison Tae Kwon Do Club for their Thursday evening workout session.  Master Nitschke usually leads and he was there for this class.  The room they use on Thursdays is large and the sound bounces around the mirrors, windows, and wood floors.  Through the computer it can be hard to understand clearly, and so for the closing reflection I couldn't make out specifically what he was saying.  Just a few words here and there.

I wanted so badly to understand.  Being in this time of uncertainty, I wanted words of guidance, words of comfort, a strand of some certainty from this teacher that I trust.  But all I could hear was a wash of his tone of voice, speaking clearly and calmly.  The words that I wanted were there, being spoken, even being heard by me, but were without meaning.

But there was some comfort in this, perhaps an even more infinite comfort than if I had understood.  I don't know what words I was seeking, but I knew he was speaking them.

Somewhere, the words that we need are being spoken.  They exist, even if we can't hear them, can't understand them, don't know their language.  Even if they are on the other side of the world, or in a time that will never be again, they are still there.  We don't have to know them, but we can know that what we need exists.