“Just then there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’”
—the Gospel of Mark
Suddenly all of the dissonance is gone.
But I cannot hear a thing.
Nothing at all.
Without the dissonance there isn’t a single solitary sound.
Nothing … but … this … other … thing.
This other thing that is not dissonance.
How can that be?
The dissonance said that it was here forever and then, just like that, it was gone.
I stumbled and fell, unbalanced without the dissonance, deafened by this new sensation of a world no longer shouting at me.
No dissonance to guide me.
No hope of escape from this new …
This new what?!?!?
The sky seems to fall.
Seems to kneel and touch my face.
Reaching out as far as it can to caress my cheek.
As if heaven, itself, is brushing my face with its lips.
Redeeming me, healing me, with a kiss.
Why would heaven ever want to kiss me, of all people?
The dissonance said that heaven never would.
Why would heaven ever care?
The dissonance swore that heaven never would.
And what did heaven do with all of the dissonance that used to fill my ears with its chaos?
The dissonance swore that it was the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
So help me God.
So … help me what?
Why would God ever care?
The dissonance screamed that God never would.
Why would God ever want to brush my face with a kiss of even the smallest caring show of affection?
The dissonance promised that God never would.
But maybe—just perhaps—the dissonance wasn’t telling the truth. Not the whole truth. Nor any of the truth.
Because there it is.
Again and again and again.
A sudden harmony.
A harmony that wraps me up so entirely and so wonderfully that it makes me feel as if I were the only thing that it ever wanted for Christmas.
The only thing that it ever wanted for Easter.
The only thing that it ever wanted any day of every week in any month of every year.
A harmony that sings for me with such wondrous melodies that I am deafened.
So deafened that this time I hear everything that the dissonance was trying to cover up with its noise.
All of my senses listen.
I hear everything that I see within the light inside your eyes.
I hear everything that I feel in your healing touch upon my skin.
And all that is in the ember warmth of your voice speaking words that I never thought I’d hear.
Ken Woodley 
How apropos and also beautiful Softly right on!
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Softly sounds perfect, Sarah. Thank you so much.
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You are welcome. Have been enriched by your Forward writing. Thank you
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Bless you for the blog this morning as it worked to mend some of my broken heartedness. The last line especially fine tuned all of the preceding mini cantos. As I am blessed, may you and yours be also ten fold.
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I embrace your blessing, Tim, and I will split the ten-fold volume with you for each of us to share with others whose hearts are troubled,
Ken
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So beautiful! Just what I needed on this dissonance-laiden morning. Thank you, Ken.
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Your words are beautiful, too, Sally, because you give them freely and with kindness. They have become part of the melody for me,
Ken
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I have “met” you this month through your entries in FORWARD DAY BY DAY. They have been nourishing and I want to communicate my gratitude. I see here how I might extend the way to have more meditations, poetry and reflections from your writings in your blog. Also glad that you were a journalist in Prince Edward County, VA to illumine racial issues then, at same time I was in Washington, D C, and coming of age as young adult from basically a white life in the West.
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I was hoping my meditations allowed people to get to know me, through the personal stories and feelings I shared, because I thought that might deepen the experience for everyone, and I am so glad that you fell that you “met” me, Merrill. Spending 31 days with someone will create a bond, and that is what we have been doing. I have been nourished by the Forward Day By Day experience, too, and I am glad we share that, and this space, too,
Ken
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I have enjoyed your words of wisdom from the scriptures this month in the “forward “ and in your blog. Thanks!
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Thank you very much, Nancy. The sun is setting here. It’s cold. Your words warm me.
Ken
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Thank you Ken for your Forward writing and reflections. How could I grow up in GA and be unaware of my Northern, yet Southern neighbor, Prince Edward County’s own struggle with class and racism? Your writing illuminated this darkness in my knowledge bank. Like Merrill, I too, feel like your personal reflections have allowed us to see ourselves while seeing “the other”. God’s Peace be with you.
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And God’s peace be with you, Melanie. Your kind words have truly brought me a true sense of God’s peace this morning. Thank you for joining your footsteps with mine,
Ken
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