To Find a Steady Center: David Whyte

Sometimes 

if you move carefully 

through the forest,

breathing 

like the ones 

in the old stories, 

who could cross 

a shimmering bed of leaves 

without a sound, 

you come 

to a place 

whose only task 

is to trouble you 

with tiny 

but frightened requests, 

conceived out of nowhere 

but in this place 

beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what 

you are doing right now, 

and 

to stop what you 

are becoming 

while you do it, 

Questions

that can make or unmake 

a life, 

questions 

that have patiently 

waited for you, 

questions 

that have no right 

to go away.

-Sometimes by David Whyte from River Flow: New and Selected Poems

As I mentioned in my introduction to this project, I am infinitely curious. I find this curiosity about people and ideas a sacred part of my faith. To be curious is to be alive in the world and open to wonder. It is fundamentally a settling into the discomfort of questions rather than the ease of answers. 

People are already talking about this moment in history as one that will shift how we live, just like 911 did. I am curious about what this will mean. I have a dear clergy colleague who does amazing activism work with the migrant communities–on 911 they were working in the financial district of Manhattan. The questions that shape and drive our lives, “questions that can make or unmake a life” are present and it’s in these moments that we are given the time and space to listen to them, to consider their weight and what they might say. 

In this time of social distancing, I am curious about the questions that nudge at me. That have been patiently waiting for my attention, to help me think about my work and relationships. 

Be kind,

Cara

To Find a Steady Center is a daily poem and meditation to offer a short, good word to those who are anxious, fearful or lonely and who might need a gentle word of hope, encouragement or perspective during social distancing.