Back...Almost

Well tomorrow we'll be faced with the last of the difficult goodbyes before we're back in Rochester to resume our daily life. It's been a positively wonderful visit here to Edmonton and so great to catch up with old friends and reconnect with family. Many posts of pictures and stories to come, but in the meantime, a quote that has resonated with me since I read it last week:

"Compassion is expressed in gentleness. When I think of the persons I know who model for me the depths of the spiritual life, I am struck by their gentleness. Their eyes communicate the residue of solitary battles with angels, the costs of caring for others, the deaths of ambition and ego, and the peace that comes from having very little left to lose in this life. They are gentle because they have honestly faced the struggles given to them and have learned the hard way that personal survival is not the point. Their caring is gentle because their self-aggrandizement is no longer at stake. There is nothing in it for them. Their vulnerability has been stretched to clear-eyed sensitivity to others and truly selfless love."
--from Healing of Purpose by John E. Biersdorf