Go to the Limits of Your Longing

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Gratitude

Thank you for this day--

a wet, green, flowing day

that has only just begun.

Let me not waste it

with busywork and worry.

Both bear unpalatable fruits.

Instead, help me to see

what there is to see;

to listen for the sound

of Your voice in stillness

and with a calm mind.

The garden, at this moment

and in this light,

should be proof enough that 

You are speaking to me,

and I reply with due 

humility and reverence,

thank you for this day.

--Sydney Eddison

[Photo of Tsali and Riley enjoying spring sunshine.]