Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light. – Theodore Roethke
I think of my past ten years or so as a gradual coming out of a sort of darkness, like I’m waking up from an ignorant stupor. I guess whatever the yearning I was experiencing was probably not all that different from a flower.
There’s something in the nature of a flower that makes it seek light, and respond to the calling of the sun and the seasons. It doesn’t happen to rocks. And if it’s true for every flower, then it’s true for every human being.
It doesn’t seem important to me right now whether I believe it’s God or the laws of the universe on one or both ends of this deal — either for the flower or me. All I know is, life is better the more I take time to pay attention to both the yearning from inside me and the calling from outside me… and then take an honest stab at acting in a way that connects the two.
I get it wrong plenty, but as long as I keep working at it, these two, ahh, what do I call them… forces? seem to be a lot smarter than I am about where to go and how to get there.