Living in a little house on the prairie of Eastern Colorado is just like the TV show, except maybe browner and windier. Sure we have electricity, air conditioning (even in some tractors), and computers. Otherwise, it's almost the same. We don't have a bratty and spoilt Nellie Olsen, but we're thinking of getting one just to complete the picture.
For many, the prairie is what you have to go through in order to get to the mountains. Few say, "Boy! I'd really like to live there." Some might wonder what it would be like until the the word hard dominates their imaginings. There's a toughness bore out of the experience of the early pioneers and their families who eventually arrived in the modern day. No matter what state you find the prairie, it's the original No Whining Zone, even if they do.
There's a lot to be said about the prairie but if you don't get it, you just don't get it. So you might not understand being spiritually drawn here. It's not that obvious even to me. But here I is - that's only funny to my mother. I'm living in a land of bleak beauty as my cousin calls it. We more than not have amazing sunrises and sunsets.
But the rest has to be seen in other ways and sometimes that's not enough. Yet one thing is for sure, this is where I belong. This is where I feel at home. And it might some day be the place that I fit into. I still have a couple years to go before the neighbors begin to believe that I'm actually staying and then there will be another five more years of probation.
So what's a denouement anyway? I got this definition from a widget on my desktop.
It makes sense that denouement describes the end of a story, a sports game or a political primary but to me, it also describes that place that I've known so many times before in my spiritual journey. I've also seen it in the journeys of others to one degree or another.
My usual response at these other junctures was, "Yes! That's it! The end of it all. It's finally understood. All is revealed. So that's how it all fits together now." There's nothing gained by seeking anything further. No other explanation is possible. The weight of uncertainty and doubt is lifted. As difficult as it may be, the answer is unquestioned.
After each temporary denouement, you lose a little more enthusiasm until you get where you say, "Give me a break!" You realize that you're doing more than searching, you're nesting and hiding. The all that ends all. You take on an identity that doesn't fit as good as you would like but you don't say anything because this is where you're supposed to be.
The next inevitable step is slowly, or rapidly, leaving followed by taking some time to review all the ways you're thankful that it didn't work out and then doing nothing until you decide to give it another try. Some of that is painful, some of it is rather funny but all of it is starting to make some sense.
There's no reason for me to have any confidence in the denouement that I'm now living except to say, it's no one else's. It's a lot easier finding something when
you know what it is that you are looking for in the first place.
There are many wise sayings, meaningful scripture verses, beautiful songs, and powerful poems but sometimes the you need a simpler understanding.
