Some days it feels like everything is moving at top speed, as if you are dashing around obstacles at the edge of crashing, avoiding disaster by the narrowest of margins while you madly rush toward the finish line. Sometimes this is exhausting; sometimes it’s truly exhilarating.
On those mad-dash days, what helps you keep some semblance of control?
As the sun rises over the horizon, a new day arrives, perfect and shining. It won’t be perfect for long, but it won’t lose that possibility that something new and precious will arrive.
What possibility do you hope will become real today?
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view,” writes Edward Abbey. And it is true that the most astounding views often come from the steepest, most twisted and torturous paths, so Abbey offers this wish as a blessing, even if it might not seem like it as you wend your way up the hard trail.
What beautiful view have you come upon from walking a difficult path?
“If we think of ourselves as living souls, immortal creatures, living in the midst of a Creation that is mostly mysterious, and if we see that everything we make or do cannot help but have an everlasting significance for ourselves, for others, and for the world, then we see why some religious teachers have understood work as a form of prayer…. Work connects us both to Creation and to eternity.” ― Wendell Berry
How is your work a form of prayer that connects you to Creation?
Giraffes are beautifully adapted for eating leaves off the upper branches of trees. Which means that getting a drink of water can be a bit of an awkward stretch. We can’t all be equally good at everything.
What do you manage to do, even though it feels difficult and awkward?
