Have been bumping into many folks recently (myself included) who are feeling really stretched. They have a lot going on in their life and feel overwhelmed and a little lost in the swirl of unknowing that life can often be.
This poem speaks to me, and maybe to you too? Especially this line: “Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.”
Lost
by David Wagoner, from Collected Poems 1956-1976
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
For me, when I feel overwhelmed by life I need to consciously stop. Stop thrashing about life. Stop allowing myself to be dragged pillar to post by the fear of it’s all falling apart.
I take a deep breath of God and exhale.
I take another. And exhale.
Each breath a prayer.
Each breath a gift and a reminder that the God-who-loves
knows where I am.
I must let God find me.
Image: Sophia (Clearing) by David Hayward – The Naked Pastor. Available on Esty.