Our wild and precious lives

Mary Oliver says:

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting their bad advice-
though the whole house
began to tremble and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my Life!” each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

lt was already late enough,
and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life that you could save.

What will we do with our one and only wild and precious lives? Speaking just now with a dear friend about a dying parent brings up the question once again. How much time do I have left? How about you? Our time on this earth is limited. For any of us, young or old, there is the possibility that the time we have left may be much shorter than we hope.

On the other hand, perhaps long life is our fate. Will we fulfill the responsibility such a gift implies?

Regardless of the length of our lives, the big issue is what we make of them. How much will we serve? How will we impact our environment? What will we leave behind? What about the larger human family? Will the children who are growing up in poverty 15 miles from where I live feel any impact on their lives because of me? Will those I know who have a life-threatening illness feel my support and caring as they face their ultimate challenge?

Will the beloved members of my own family remember how much I cherished them? Will they remember moments of joy and laughter? A precious 7-year-old gave me 7 hugs today. “You and Chippie (my dog) are the best things in the whole world!” he said recently. It was a treasured moment, even though I know others are the “best thing” on other days. I hope I bring as much joy to his life as he has already brought to mine. He and his siblings and cousins are all the motivation I will ever need to make a difference with my life.

Several years before her only and final illness, I walked with my mother in the rhododendron garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was in full flower. Glorious blossoms of fuchsia, pink, white, yellow and scarlett surrounded us and towered above us.

Mama was enchanted. “Thank you God!” she said over and over. “Thank you for this beauty!” It was a moment I’ll never forget. The beauty of that garden was beyond imagining. Both of us put aside our conflicts and issues as we drank it in. In beauty it’s begun. The miraculous moments give us the willingness to open our hearts.

I disagree with the last line by dear Mary Oliver quoted above. It’s not only my own life I can save. I can impact yours as well, and you mine. I can smile deeply into your eyes even though we don’t know each other. I can write these words and through them, wish you heartfelt blessings on this day.

Blessings, dear visitor. Whether you’re in a college or prison or hotel, whether you’re resting before going to battle again, whether you’re at home and lonely or happy, I wish you the openness to the miraculous moments that are always there.

Finally, more words from Mary Oliver.  ….whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world calls to your imagination….” You have a place in the family of things.

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My books The Rumi Secret, and Ecstatic Lovemaking are available on my website http://www.drvictorialee.com or on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter, or contact me on Facebook.