A Little M.O. for Trying Times

Some words of Mary Oliver ran through my mind as I walked Lucy today: 

Instructions for Living a Life

Pat attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

I think that's basically what I've been trying to do with this blog for the last 16 years, although lately, the astonishment piece has not been as positive as I like. So, as I walked, I remembered another Oliver poem, one that is almost like a prayer to me. In fact, it would be a good idea to say this every night before going to sleep or every morning before rising.

When I am Among the Trees 

Mary Oliver 

When I am among the trees, 

especially the willows and the honey locust, 

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, 

they give off such hints of gladness. 

I would almost say that they save me, and daily. 

I am so distant from the hope of myself, 

in which I have goodness, and discernment, 

and never hurry through the world 

but walk slowly, and bow often. 

Around me the trees stir in their leaves 

and call out, “Stay awhile.” 

The light flows from their branches. 

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say, 

“and you too have come 

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, 

and to shine.”