It's 5:05 in the afternoon on Tuesday, and I feel as if I were suspended—perched on the crest of this passing moment. I am vaguely aware that I am "wasting time". I am lying on my bed roll with my hands clasped behind my head, my eyes opening and closing at intervals, taking in the changing patterns of this afternoon's very active sky. My work at the carpenter shop is finished for the day, the official work period having ended thirty five minutes ago. Monks call this an "interval"—a space of time between scheduled community exercises which one is free to spend as one chooses which is what I'm doing . . . I guess. Actually, I don't recall having chosen to do anything. My plopping here on the bed was hardly a decision. Well, there you are: it's an "interval" after all—a time to set aside busyness. Good. I am observing it perfectly. Besides, there really is nothing I can really get accomplished now. It's too late. The bell for Vespers rings in twenty minutes. I can hardly prepare a class lecture in that time. Even a leisurely walk in the woods takes at least half an hour. What is a monk to do? Spring is near and I am delighted that the air has stopped biting. When I walked into my cell, I threw open the window wide. Now, in Iowa, you throw open a third floor window at your own risk. It's windy on the plains and today the winds are gusting. As I lay looking up at the sky, the window gulps air, and an invisible visitor is touring my cell, whistling, flipping through my personal papers, setting the hanging lamp swaying. I am actually rather enjoying his company. I am deeply happy—surprised to discover there isn't a thing I need or desire except this moment just as God has fashioned it. This is marvelous to me. At this moment, I am certain I have the richest, fullest, most grace-filled existence any creature of God can enjoy. I possess everything and the perfect enjoyment of it. How can that be? There is only one way. It is because, I am saying "yes". I am at this moment simply saying "yes" to everything that is, just as I find it, without a thought of changing it or of anything else it might be. Saying yes to this moment, I am saying "yes" to the will of God and, in that very instant, am uniting myself with God. Well, there you are. There is no greater happiness in heaven or on earth.

Father Raphael