“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” – John Muir
As I dug deeply down to tuck you in safely, one by one, in softness, grounded for growth with care and wishes for your survival. (Awareness of my lack of qualifications and experience crowded into the activity like a boisterous neighbor who wasn’t invited. “This won’t work. You don’t know what you’re doing.”)
As I put my shovel away, I am thinking about internal resistance. My resistance to planting, to bothering with placing all of you in the earth. My head saying, “You’re doing it wrong. You will be disappointed.” My heart replying, “Let’s try. I need to wonder.”
Now I am pondering, curious actually, what would it be like to live without a belief in planting. Realizing I already know. I have been there and don’t want to go back.
I am seeding a future I cannot see. I am planting hope in the dark cold of winter. This includes garlic cloves and my belief in loving action to grow the next. Stepping into the unknowable with a curious heart that knows it doesn’t always work out and planting it anyway.
Later that day I found three more cloves in my pocket. Three that escaped planting day. Their potential is not lost. I will find time to tuck them to bed too.
Hope is a muscle. It is a vigorous choice, to see what is wrong and what needs healing and needs repair and needs our attention and also to keep our hearts and our imaginations and our energy oriented towards what we want to build, what we want to create, what we’re walking towards. – Krista Tippett
I spent some time with Ali Grimshaw’s writing circle and once again, enjoyed being with like minded souls as we explored poetry together. The inspiration for my poem came from, “Lighthouse Keeping” by Kay Ryan. – Val
Know that we are
keepers of the light
Holding space and
reaching out to those
in darkened places.
Its not our job
to judge, advise, fix
or rescue others.
Our calling is to keep
the light shining
within ourselves and
bring it to the world,
to keep us all afloat.
Thank you Val for sharing this inspirational poem and for all the loving support written on your blog,Find Your Middle Ground. You are a bright light in the world. Keep on shining. I will be reading in appreciation.
Photo by Ave Calvar Martinez
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 