the task

Dear friend,

Last week was quite eventful and I wasn’t able to write as normal. A string of uncharacteristically strong earthquakes in our part of the country shook us not only physically but emotionally and mentally as well…it was hard to concentrate on anything else. My community was in a panic—those who live on the upper floors of our ten-story blocs were fairly traumatized by the shaking and we all had the images from Turkey and Syria fresh in our minds. Thankfully things seem to be quieting down now and we are learning to live with the uncertainty of a new seismic reality. 

These days, I have been finding much joy and fulfillment in creative work. I am trying to make it a priority, arranging my days to allow for these tasks that are not my job but that are, nonetheless, my work.

Wendell Berry says that: “to be creative is only to have health; to keep oneself fully alive in the Creation, to keep the Creation fully alive in oneself, to see the Creation anew, to welcome one’s part in it anew.”

In the same poem/essay “Healing” from the collection What Are People For? I found this passage that I subsequently typed up and taped to my wall above my newly arrange studio space:

The teaching of unsuspected teachers belong to the task, and are its hope. 

The love and the work of friends and lovers belong to the task, and are its health. 

Rest and rejoicing belong to the task, and are its grace.

Let tomorrow come tomorrow. Not by your will is the house carried through the night.

I love his expansive view of creativity, his comprehensive view of “the task.” It reminds me that the work of our lives is not just what we do at a desk, or what we get paid for, or what we’re required to do. It is something larger, reaching through all the spheres of our lives, connecting and drawing in, releasing and sending out into the world beyond. It is, I suppose, like prayer—something that we set aside dedicated time and space for, and simultaneously something that we strive to knit into every moment of the day.

And while I taped this passage onto my wall before the earthquakes began, the last sentence, “Not by your will is the house carried through the night,” has taken on a deeper significance as I now sleep with an emergency bag packed and ready to go by the side of my bed. It is a declaration of trust, and one that we all need in moments of uncertainty.  

I guess today I simply want to ask you, what is your task? (It is a question that will need constant revisiting throughout our lives.) I want also to encourage you to embrace the teachings of unsuspected teachers, the love and the work of friends and lovers, rest and rejoicing—all of it. I have a feeling that they will only belong to the task once we believe they belong to the task. May we invite them in, and may we reap their hope, their health, and their grace. 

With love,

Xenia

P.S. here’s an Orthodox prayer with which I have started trying to bookend my work…perhaps it will be helpful to you as well.

Prayer before work:

O Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, You have said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” In faith I embrace Your words, O Lord, and bow before Your goodness. Grant me the inclination to be fruitful in labor, and bless my work for your glory. Amen.

Prayer after work:

Thank You, O Lord, for Your strength and guidance in my work. You are the fulfillment of all good things. Fill also my soul with joy and gladness, that I may praise You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.