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| Poppy by Brock's Creek at Starry Meadows |
It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
~Wendell Berry in Standing By Words
~~
Because this bird is singing to me,
I belong to the wide wind,
The people far away who share
The air and the clouds.
Together we are looking up
Into all we do not own
And we are listening.
~Naomi Shihab Nye from "Messages from Everywhere"
I belong to the wide wind,
The people far away who share
The air and the clouds.
Together we are looking up
Into all we do not own
And we are listening.
~Naomi Shihab Nye from "Messages from Everywhere"
How do you experience this poem? It makes me feel open, free, and grateful. After reading, I want to look up, see birds, and notice the breeze, while also feeling connected to you. Pretty cool for a simple poem.
Photo: Pileated Woodpecker
~~~
Have you somehow marked this extraordinary year so far, this COVID19 experience? Have you built a cairn, planted a tree, journaled, or dedicated a word to mark this season of your life, however it unfolded within you? So many words on my Facebook news feed these days: fear, doubt, anxiety, skepticism, angst, panic, depression, anger, deepening, peace, joy, gratitude, awakening, pausing. They all belong. Honor your own extraordinary experiences.
2020 has been extraordinary, even if not in ways we usually define that word.
At the dawn of this year, back in January which now seems like a whole year ago, I couldn't choose a word. For the first time since I've been choosing a word to carry and grow into each new year, I just couldn't choose a word. I waffled between 'sabbatical' and 'balance,' but got bored with thinking about it so I just let it drop. Perhaps the pandemic choose the word for me as I feel like I'm on some kind of sabbatical. Isn't it fascinating though, that some intuition or sense of the Spirit came up with those words. Balance is an interesting word - especially when life became upended.
I shall continue to hold both words and let them stir and grow me in 2020.
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| Dyad's Saddle mushroom |
~~~
I like the following piece by John Roedel. I've been in an interior place where things I believed were falling away. It feels disorienting. Perhaps this pandemic has brought on an unfamiliar deepening within you, or is exposing you to unsettling truths about yourself or the world. Be gentle with yourself as you sift and explore, and allow things to drop away.
Me: Hey God.
God: Hello.....
Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I would rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you aren't a puzzle.
Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?
God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.
Me: You don't understand! I'm breaking down!
God: No - you don't understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling are just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You aren't falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don't need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don't fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?
God: Only the very best pieces of you.
Me: I'm scared of changing.
God: I keep telling you - YOU AREN'T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don't change! ... Become! Become! Become who I made you to be. I'm going to keep telling you this until you remember it.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yep. Let it be.
Me: So ... I'm not broken?
God: Of course Not! - but you are breaking like the dawn. It's a new day. Become!!!
~Author John Roedel
God: Hello.....
Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I would rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you aren't a puzzle.
Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?
God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.
Me: You don't understand! I'm breaking down!
God: No - you don't understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling are just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You aren't falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don't need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don't fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?
God: Only the very best pieces of you.
Me: I'm scared of changing.
God: I keep telling you - YOU AREN'T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don't change! ... Become! Become! Become who I made you to be. I'm going to keep telling you this until you remember it.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yep. Let it be.
Me: So ... I'm not broken?
God: Of course Not! - but you are breaking like the dawn. It's a new day. Become!!!
~Author John Roedel
And that is all for this week. Blessings my friends and readers. ~ Sharon
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