Sunday, May 13, 2012

the work of the daily

Begin to read
the sweet Nothing this
testament teaches.
Accept the pure
work of the daily
with love.
The homeland of God
is seeking the life
you belong to.
Everything includes you
in its secret.

--lks 2012

4 comments:

  1. I always find myself gazing into the eyes of your picture as I ponder the words you've shared.

    This passage reminds me of the thinking of Brother Lawrence. Especially in the notion of accepting the pure work of the daily.

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  2. well, it's another found poem, this time from Esther de Waal's book on the Cistercian life. I like how you refer to the "eyes" of my picture. The pure work of the daily is kind of wearisome at the moment to me but that is part of the package. Love isn't always a feeling but an action and an attitude. It helps to remember that.

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  3. Many people I talk to are finding their work to be more overwhelming than ever. Factors may be the economy and our use of computers. I wonder if our paucity of non-working time, and of self-care, detracts from the "purity" of our daily work, as expressed in the poem.

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  4. It is a slippery slope, for sure. I don't know what I would do without summertime, and I am not even the hardest working teacher I know, by a long shot. I can feel a bit guilty about self-care, but one thing I am gleaning from my reading of late is the notion that humility is not about expecting the impossible from ourselves, but about perceiving the world in the clearest way we can and being mindfully present in it. I hope to do some good spiritual work this summer while school is out and I can focus on it a bit more.

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About Me

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Georgia, United States
I live at the edge of the forest in a little town in the north Georgia mountains. I teach sixth grade Language Arts and am writing a memoir of sorts about family, spirituality, and narrative. I am also exploring a possible writing project having to do with contemporary lay contemplative experience and how it might be informed by the Desert Fathers and Mothers of early Christianity. I am a relatively recent convert to Roman Catholicism and an admirer of Pope Francis, Leonardo Boff, Joan Chittister, and Richard Rohr. I'm a Lay Associate of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, Georgia. I am interested in indigenous cultures, narratives, and spirituality, especially how these can inform my spirituality as a lay contemplative. I write, read, take pictures, play around with creating ephemera from paper and cloth and other organic things. I cook, hike, watch wildlife, and collect random bits of interesting oddness, both tangible and abstract. I am a seer of smallness and a caretaker of ridiculous minutiae. If you want, e-mail me at riverrun67@gmail.com or lksorrells@hotmail.com.