Whoever you are
Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on…
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things. — Mary Oliver
I’ve said it here many times before, but I don’t think life is easy for anyone. Some people have it much harder than others, but all of us have times when we feel loneliness and despair. Oliver’s poem, of which only an excerpt appears above, speaks to me because of the immense and inexplicable solace I find in the natural world. The earth and skies and seas, and all the creatures who are at home in these various spaces, are at once humbling and reassuring. Each of us plays a unique part in a much, much larger story, and all of us belong.
This post was first published seven years ago. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: belonging, connection, despair, family, geese, hope, imagination, life, loneliness, nature, sharing, struggles
Defeat Despair 
Julia,
I agree with what you have to say here. We can treat this world as a playground or a proving ground. God provides so much beauty and joy. If we who regard it as a proving ground, honor it with humility and respect it can see us through as an elixir against all mortal trials. Those who regard this world as a playground with squander and abuse find no healing by rather subject themselves to the pains of overindulgence. For there is never enough to satisfy those who see not beyond the sunrise or sunset where only the truly humble will find complete fulfillment.
-Alan
Alan, so true! And even for those who honor the earth, humility is very important. We can err on the opposite side by OVER-estimating our own role in the great scheme of things, too. Part of our sense of belonging must come from realization of how relatively tiny our own place is, and how blessed we are to be here at all.
Amen, my friend.
-Alan
Thank you, Alan. I hope you had a lovely autumn in “the quiet corner” and will have a cozy winter!
And you as well.
-Alan