You’re Invited

In that moment between starting the wash and emptying the dishwasher or the space between packing lunches and paying the bills or the time between this email and the next task on your to-do list waits an invitation. If I’m honest, it’s one I’ve ignored for far too long.

The invitation mirrors my heart’s deepest longing, yet to respond means stepping into the space of heart’s emotions and soul’s sensitivities. I want to go there; I don’t want to do there. I have found comfort in this poem by Jane Hirshfield over and over again these past ten months. Somehow, her words fill me with just enough curiosity and courage to step softly into those emotional and sensitive places. When Light calls I long to meet it completely, and sometimes I don’t. May we find courage to step into those beautifully challenging and deeply healing places.

Meeting the Light Completely by Jane Hirshfield

Even the long-beloved

was once

an unrecognized stranger.

Just so,

the chipped lip

of a blue-glazed cup,

blown field of a yellow curtain,

might also,

flooding and falling,

ruin your heart.

A table painted with roses.

An empty clothesline.

Each time,

the found world surprises –

that is its nature.

And then

what is said by all lovers:

“What fools we were, not to have seen.”

Reflection by Cherie Shaw, CPE Intern