Beauty in the Ordinary

This is not about being brilliant, or extraordinary, it's not about wanting to be famous, or making headlines, or trying to impress...this about sharing a 'gift' each day with the world...to lift the spirit of people when they read this blog, to show them the beauty in the ordinary.
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Raold Dahl

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Pebbles


Do you have a ten-year plan, a five-year plan, or like Oriah do you just look for the small pebbles to point your way?


The Invitation

I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,

from the book The Invitation


Today, I'm opting for the small, white pebbles.

6 comments:

  1. Jacqueline, my plan is not to plan. I used to work in University system where it was so very important where you studied and what degree you had and how many you had. I am so happy I am out of that life as it really is not important to me at all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I won't bring up the old thing about what God thinks about our plans (oops! I just have). Somehow, the pebbles always seem to point in all directions at once, unlike cows in a field. Your new picture reminds me of a theatre set back-drop, but maybe I have theatrics on my mind at the moment.

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  3. God must be splitting his sides is all I can say Tom...I'm giving up on plans and I don't care if the pebbles have me running in circles.
    I'm with you Olive...let's just let it all be.

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  4. V...the header photo is one of your paintings right? Who is it by?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just left Willow's Manor and thought I would drop by your place on the way home.

    I want to know if you can get up
    after the night of grief and despair
    weary and bruised to the bone
    and do what needs to be done.


    I can do that. I have done it. And I have lived to tell the tale. And I will keep on doing it, come Hell or high water, or both. (Maybe they'll do something about that at the Shaw Festival one year.)

    Additionally, this post "rocks." No apology; I like puns.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Inspiring words. I dream, and dream big, but I let the little pebbles guide me along the way. I love the unexpected places they take me, sometimes you just can't plan for that :)

    ReplyDelete

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