Receive this Day

BLESSING
No matter how much forethought,
working ahead, “life hacking,”
I will never finish it all.
So give me a fresh sense of urgency.
When is the sunrise?
Read me a poem.
Who here has an amazingly embarrassing story?
There will need to be a delay at the pharmacy,
the pickup line, and the checkout counter.
You are giving me back this day.” – Kate Bowler

“I know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you’re in it all the same.
So why not get started immediately.
I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.
And to write music or poems about.
Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.
You could live a hundred years, it’s happened.
Or not.
I am speaking from the fortunate platform of many years,
none of which, I think, I ever wasted.
Do you need a prod?
Do you need a little darkness to get you going?
Let me be as urgent as a knife, then, and remind you of Keats,
so single of purpose and thinking, for a while,
he had a lifetime.” – Mary Oliver, from Blue Horses

May you be the poet, the poem, of this day.
Blessed and a blessing.
In all of its glory and ordinariness.
In chores and obligations.
Slow to see what’s surrounding you and within.
Allowing gratitude to rise.
Consternation to fade.
Rapt awe, wonder, delight and joy in drops or tidal waves.
Receive the gifts of this day.
Hidden in the giving away.

“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”― Maya Angelou