for better or worse

“Every human interaction offers you the chance to make things better or to make things worse.”

                              Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

________________________

Life is an opportunity

An opportunity to make a mess of things

Something I am inordinately good at,

And a change to make things better

It doesn’t take much, really, to mess things up

Not listening

Not listening with the heart

Words uttered, too fast and without thought

An impulsive action

Relating to another out of need not fullness

But it doesn’t take much to make things better

Kindness

A little gentleness

Generosity

A complement here an there

Presence

There are times it is hard to get up in morning

To face this world as it is

Where the powerful abuse

Where the vulnerable are neglected

Where good people are oppressed by bad people

Sometimes in the name of God

But I can swing my feet out of bed

And start putting one foot in front of the other

If

If

If

My plan for the day, my only plan

Is to do the small things that make things better

For each person I meet

For in each person I meet and serve

I meet and serve the Sacred