A serious thing

“it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.”

                                           Mary Oliver, Red Bird

It is a serious thing to be alive

To walk in the frigid air

And feel the snow crunch beneath my feet

A serious thing to watch happy dog

Do the “I found a stick dance”

It is a serious thing to breathe the freshness

Watch the sunrise

Follow the flight of the raptor soar

Raise up one’s eyes to the mountains

It is a serious thing

to carry

through this beauty

so much ugliness

anger at one who lies, and hates

who divides and bullies

anger at those who would steal from the poor

to give to the rich

despair that those who say they follow Jesus

should blindly and passionately support behaviors,

words, legislation, budgets

that violate the way of Jesus

confusion, about how people can go into Advent and Christmas

singing about the one who came and comes

celebrating love, joy, hope, and peace

and yet be committed to people and policies

which are cruel, and rob people of joy, hope, and peace

and perhaps

even life

how can such a beautiful world be so broken?

And how do I contain both the beauty

And the brokness

Without losing the beauty in the brokenness?

How do all of

Carry the life in the brokenness?

Sometimes we are silent

Sometimes we speak

Sometimes we are angry

Sometimes we are patient

Sometimes we act

Sometimes we wait

But always we listen to the Sacred

We give the sacred the room to move

Deep within our soul

Always we stay connected

Always we carry, as best we can the Sacred with us

And always

Always

Always

We are present

To the small ones

In that way

We might just

survive