Sunday, August 08, 2004

something I found

Was digging through my trunk over the weekend, and found this on a piece of paper - sent to me a long time ago from a friend I met along the road.....

"The Invitation"

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. 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 dreams, 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 center 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 cationing us to be careful, be realistic or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you're telling me is true. I want to know if you can disapoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life from God's presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a 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 be bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center 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 insider 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.


Yeah - somethings in there that stand out for me..... the importance that we so often place on the wrong things.
Still - there is passion there... and life.... and zest.
Time to crawl into bed with a book.

Ciao

2 comments:

Becca said...

I Really like that posting... do you know who wrote that?

Using up the words.... said...

Hey Becca,

Ummmmmmm.... like all good things that I seem to stumble across, no name - although this one does say, An Indian Elder.
Who knows if it really was?

Oh was just reading, and noticing all the typos. haha. Have to fix that.

Do you have any good ones?
CJ