I’ve been here in Provence for almost a month, and only now do I feel like I’ve finally arrived.
Not in the obvious ways—bags unpacked (sort of), fridge stocked, paintbrushes in their jar—but in the quieter, deeper way of belonging. Of moving at the pace of this place. Of waking to birdsong and not feeling the need to rush. Of letting my work be shaped by the rhythm of the land rather than the pressure of productivity.
It’s a strange thing, how long it can take to settle, even in a place you love.
But maybe that’s not so strange at all.
This morning, with the windows open and the cicadas humming their summer song, I sat with this quote from Tolkien--spoken by a character, Gandalf:
“Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not our to rule."
There is so much in the world that feels unsettled right now. Wars and rumors of war. Political grief. Cultural noise. The subtle ache of personal uncertainty. The headlines alone can rattle our peace before the day even begins.
And yet, Tolkien reminds us that we were not made to master the tides of the world. We are not called to solve the whole thing. We are called to do what is in us, here and now. In the fields we’ve been given. With the tools we hold.
That truth lands softly in my heart today—a little like a benediction.
Here in this little stone cottage, I’m reminded that our work doesn’t have to be grand to be meaningful. Uprooting a bit of sorrow, planting a bit of beauty, offering a small patch of clean earth for someone who comes after us—that’s enough. That’s faithful.
So if you, like me, feel the weight of uncertainty, or the disorientation of not having arrived as quickly as you hoped, take heart.
You’re not behind. You’re becoming.
You’re not failing. You’re forming.
And maybe your only job today is to sit quietly with what is in you—and tend it.
The rest is not yours to rule.
