the posture of grace

 

watercolor

on cold-pressed Kilimanjaro paper

You must forgive in order to understand. 

Until you forgive, 

you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding...

 If you forgive... 

you may indeed still not understand, 

but you will be ready to understand, 

and that is the posture of grace.

-Marilynne Robinson, Home

the silence that surrounds

acrylic on canvas

I had learned what I knew, 

the bare outline of the event, 

without asking questions,

 both fearing the pain that I knew surrounded the story 

and honoring the silence that surrounded the pain.

-Wendell Berry, That distant Land