My work is loving the world....

MESSENGER

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.


~ Mary Oliver ~

Mary Oliver's love of nature might be seen in the way she addresses it as addressing a good friend, as in "When I Am Among the Trees," where she says

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."


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While Mary Oliver here is naming her specific work of loving and being nurtured by nature, at the same time, she reminds us each of other similar work of Love...

Coming from a perspective of loving Jesus and his teachings, I oft remember his beautiful
statement that his work was/is to do the Will of Him who sent him...

Although we are oft imperfect in the task of doing the Divine will...my understanding today is that by seeking that will with all our heart, soul & mind...we can sometimes find our way back to that central life-force to be given all that might be required for this one day, this one hour, this one relationship, this one need to be aware....and most of all to find the way to Love specific to what is required and beyond.