Being, a message to myself
Luci Shaw
Like bees busy on purple heather
there are those who seldom rest
who leap about accomplishing things,
affixing stamps, defrosting a loaf,
pulling a weed, flipping a switch,cramming a screen with a frenzy
of words. Doers who hope
to change the world, job by job . . .
You can barely hear the others,
like trees, monuments with veins,
rooted, shedding a scented
shade, a spring ceiling of green,
a seasonal rug of gold.
I’ve always felt an affinity for rain,
its palpable relief at letting go.
The round oak table by the window resting
all afternoon under its shifting tablecloth of sun.
I am not knocking those who do, we need to do. But I can be too much of a doer sometimes. My husband and nine year old son are in Kenya right now, I still have four children at home. I was hoping to get all these projects done while they were gone. Things I cannot concentrate on when I am teaching math to a nine year old boy wielding a light saber. Sometimes when I am doing , I get wound up tighter and tighter , I go faster and faster and then it all falls apart. I love the line about the rain and its palpable relief at letting go....
So although my days are filled with doing, I am going to make an effort to sit, ponder and let go.
you can read more poems here
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Beautiful, Amy - both the poem and your sentiments!! What a lovely and authentic picture you paint of a busy mother, torn always between "doing" and "being" ( I am SO there with you!). Thank you for the reminder to pursue balance over hyper-productivity. I will carry your words with me as I greet this day.
ReplyDeletethe beauty of your words take my breath away.
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing, encouraging, teaching.
grace to you,
aimee
These last two posts of yours were so so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI feel like your light has shone on me.
Thank you.
Love you blog...thanks for visiting mine. As a homeschooling mama, I am a type A personality that loves to feel accomplishment. If I can check it off, it is worth doing...but this is false. I tend to be serious and feel pressure to accomplish, when all my children want is for me to read to them and build a castle. And I know they will remember that more than how many pages were finished in math.
ReplyDeletePlease keep my oldest adopted one in your prayers. See my post when you click on his name on my blog.
Amy -- How how I need to post this many places in my home. Somehow when the to-do lists seem to be my salvation I need to be reminded that it is the spirit and not the letter of the law that saves. I will not be judged (by God or anyone else) by how many things I have crossed off my lifetime of to-do lists (how depressing does that sound), but by how much I love and the peace that I bring to our home and to others. It is sad that sometimes my lists get more attention than my children. Oy! Priorities need to be realigned -- thank you for this loveliness today!
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