🕊️ The Sparrow in the Hall

June 12, 2025

TWO-MINUTE MONK
Ancient wisdom for modern life, every Monday.

🧘 Monk Thought

“The present life of man upon earth… is like the swift flight of a sparrow through the hall.
It enters at one door and quickly flies out through another.
While it is inside, it is safe from the winter storms,
but after a moment of comfort, it vanishes into the dark again.”

— The Venerable Bede (c. 731 CE)

💡 Monk Light

This is one of the oldest metaphors in English literature — and still one of the most honest.

A life: brief, beautiful, mysterious.

A flicker of warmth, and then gone.

Bede wasn’t being morbid. He was pointing to something deeper:

You don’t know how long the sparrow will stay in the hall.

You just know it’s flying now.

So while it’s here, be kind.

Speak simply.

Notice the firelight.

Let the moment matter, because it won’t last.

The Venerable Bede was an 8th-century English monk, scholar, and historian whose writings, especially The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, earned him the title “Father of English History.”

👣 Monk Move

Today, pause in the middle of something ordinary — washing your hands, closing your laptop, standing in line — and remind yourself:

“This moment is the flight of the sparrow.”

Let it pass gently.

🔐 The Monk Vault is now open.
You can find all the previous posts by the Two-Minute Monk in the Vault. The weekly post from the Monk will always be free but at some point in the future, I will create a small subscription of no more than £2 per month to access the Vault to see previous posts and get extra material. For now, though, the Vault remains open and free. Enjoy!