WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:11.439
<v Speaker 1>Us Studios. There is a kind of quiet that knows

2
00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:16.760
<v Speaker 1>exactly what you have been holding. It sees the small,

3
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:21.879
<v Speaker 1>bright things you have been keeping, the gentle embers you

4
00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:26.839
<v Speaker 1>have tended late at night, the slow devotions no one

5
00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:30.839
<v Speaker 1>else has named. You are the keeper of more than

6
00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:37.240
<v Speaker 1>you realize. Somewhere you have been guarding a flame. Maybe

7
00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:40.640
<v Speaker 1>it is the way you speak to yourself when no

8
00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:44.439
<v Speaker 1>one is listening. Maybe it is the way you return

9
00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:49.000
<v Speaker 1>to the same prayer, the same breath, the same cup

10
00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:53.880
<v Speaker 1>of tea held with both hands. Maybe it is the

11
00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.479
<v Speaker 1>way you have kept loving someone, even on the days

12
00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.280
<v Speaker 1>when love was hard to feel. Maybe it is the

13
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.000
<v Speaker 1>way you keep showing up day after day for the small,

14
00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:12.239
<v Speaker 1>sacred things no one else sees. You have not always

15
00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:17.359
<v Speaker 1>been thinked for this, but you have been faithful to it.

16
00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:21.879
<v Speaker 1>Each tiny act of keeping has been a quiet revolution.

17
00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:26.079
<v Speaker 1>Each time you have chosen to hold instead of drop,

18
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.480
<v Speaker 1>to tend, instead of rush, to stay with what is fragile,

19
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.480
<v Speaker 1>instead of looking away. You have been a keeper, and

20
00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:40.239
<v Speaker 1>the world is softer because of it. Even the version

21
00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:44.760
<v Speaker 1>of you that is tired, even the version that doubts,

22
00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:51.920
<v Speaker 1>has been keeping something precious this whole time, So this morning,

23
00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:57.400
<v Speaker 1>Let yourself be kept. Let the light touch your face

24
00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:01.439
<v Speaker 1>before you reach for anything. The warmth of the mug

25
00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:07.680
<v Speaker 1>be the only thing you multitask. Let the breath finish

26
00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:11.479
<v Speaker 1>its own journey before you ask your body to begin

27
00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:16.599
<v Speaker 1>the next one. There is nothing to prove this hour.

28
00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:21.680
<v Speaker 1>There is only the privilege of being here. You do

29
00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:25.800
<v Speaker 1>not have to keep everything today. You do not have

30
00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:30.280
<v Speaker 1>to hold every small thing in place. Some of what

31
00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:33.560
<v Speaker 1>you have been caring is allowed to be set down,

32
00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:39.240
<v Speaker 1>even for a few minutes, even just here, you can

33
00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:44.280
<v Speaker 1>let the silence hold you for a while. The keeping

34
00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:51.240
<v Speaker 1>does not stop when you rest, it deepens. The vigil

35
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:56.800
<v Speaker 1>is not broken by your pause. You are not failing

36
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:03.319
<v Speaker 1>when you rest and falling behind when you pause. You

37
00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:08.080
<v Speaker 1>are simply letting the keeper rest too, the way any

38
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.439
<v Speaker 1>tender gardener steps back from the soil to let the

39
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:17.800
<v Speaker 1>rain do its quiet work. The seeds do not need

40
00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:24.400
<v Speaker 1>you hovering. They need you trusting. The patient dark is

41
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.479
<v Speaker 1>doing what you cannot. What you have been keeping is safe,

42
00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:33.960
<v Speaker 1>What you have been tending is growing. What you have

43
00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:38.639
<v Speaker 1>been guarding in the dark is already lit in ways

44
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.879
<v Speaker 1>you will not see for a little while. Your faithfulness

45
00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:47.919
<v Speaker 1>in the in between is not invisible. It is the

46
00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:53.199
<v Speaker 1>very thing the morning is built on. Even the smallest

47
00:03:53.280 --> 00:04:00.759
<v Speaker 1>flame kept becomes a lantern. So be held, be unhurried,

48
00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:06.719
<v Speaker 1>be the keeper of this one small moment, and let

49
00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:14.360
<v Speaker 1>it be enough, Sadlene, Trust the tending be hell. You

50
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.319
<v Speaker 1>have been the one who remembers the small things, who

51
00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:23.240
<v Speaker 1>notices the quiet ones, who keeps the door open when

52
00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:27.879
<v Speaker 1>everyone else forgets. To day, the door is open for

53
00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:32.000
<v Speaker 1>you too. To day you are the one being kept.

54
00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:37.800
<v Speaker 1>So be held, be unhurried, be the keeper of this

55
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:45.040
<v Speaker 1>one small moment, and let it be enough, said Alene.

56
00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:48.839
<v Speaker 1>Trust the tending be held,