I am tempted.
Tempted to
turn inward.
Tempted to shield my face from light
and get comfortable in the dark.
There’s a part of me that is ready to fight
and there’s a part of me
that just wants to watch dumb TV and eat chips.
There’s so much happening in the world
and in my home, that my heart sometimes just
goes in circles
wondering where to start,
wondering where it all stops.
Have you been there?
When your eyes flit from headline to headline
and you just aren’t sure how to absorb it all
and so it all just slides off of you
and piles onto the floor.
When you wake up you realize
you are sleeping on an island.
You are surrounded by the issues
that you left lay –
the concerns that you refuse to
enter into are queued up on the floor
waiting for your slumber to end.
I am tempted.
Tempted to think that
what I say
what I do
doesn’t even matter.
There’s so much pain,
so much wrong
so much inequality.
I am tempted to think
that what happens
has little to do with me.
But truth draws me towards light,
asks tough questions
and implores me to move
off my island.
Truth reveals me to myself and gives
light to the situations in my world and in
the world at large.
What I do, matters.
What you do, matters.
What you say, matters.
In big and in small ways, it matters.
And so it is up to us to find ways
to speak and move.
To keep the light.
Share the light.
Searching for kindling:
- Are you on an island trying to stay asleep?
- What issue are you avoiding?
- What truth are you hiding from?
- Waking up and diving into the issues that we try to ignore will help us realize that what we do matters. What can you do?
This! Yes! When the world gets to me I turn to what I can control…my home.
And then I look around and laugh…really? You think you have this under control?
But then I see my son with his friends… from all types of homes, different religions, and different races. They all feel welcome in my home. So, yes the world overwhelms me, but I turn inward to my home and things don’t seem so bad.
You always put it into words. Thanks. Wish I had had your blog when my kids were growing up.
Thanks for sharing this, Anna! Thank you for your kind words, they mean so much. I carry them in my heart.