Looking in the mirror at the curling locks that reach around and down the front of my shirt. It was what I didn't do that created this moment for me. It's been awhile and I don't even know why. The bun or the braid or the pony tail lengthens and I have done nothing about it. And those strands of silver wisping lighter than the black, here they come and I let them show. It's what I didn't do that allows them their time and maybe I look all of my 55 these days because of what I didn't do.
If I didn't worry... if I didn't ...what then? It would take time, but something would grow from that looking away...that ignoring. Like the long curls cascading down the back a slow change would occur from what I didn't do... if I didn't worry, if I didn't.
And it has begun; the slow, the easy, the steady change, the turning of the back to the prodding problem, to the frightful future. To the bad news I turn my back and do nothing...Instead of acting, I just "trust fall" again and again. To the heavy thoughts of days ahead alone, of getting older and when things go wrong, of sickness and such silly things I do not sink into concern. I do not feed the frenzy that comes to me poking, asking, threatening to invade my head and my heart.
Once the frenzy came shouting at me and I pulled up a chair to listen awhile. What if "this"? What if "that"? It shouted. I went for a walk with my friend. 'Round and 'round on the road winding between tombstones and big old trees we walked shuffling a gathering of Canadians into the graves.
I told her what I'd heard and she said, "Rhonda....the Lord! The Lord is already there at the end of each concern and He will take care of you." Sometimes I need a friend to help me in what I shouldn't do. I shouldn't worry. And if I don't something new will grow. It will. And I will look different. I will talk different. A change will come because of what I didn't do.
May I sit with you for but a few more hours
and bless you for being you?
May I smell your blooming flowers
and watch your mulberries ripen soon?
May I brag about the roses
that choose your welcome to open wide?
And may I bring you this offering,
this feeling? I will try.
Your days grow sweetly longer,
your showers come to find
the soil that needs more water,
the flowers and the vines.
I breath you in to savor.
I drink you in my thirst.
I bless you in your breezes,
I marvel at your worth!
The purest smell of privet,
the dandelion blooms,
daylily and magnolia
all draw me from my room.
I'll plant a little garden
when I find a piece of ground,
an orchard and a vineyard
'cause you'll be back real soon.
You are my shining favorite.
I don't wish for you to go.
Can't we just start all over?
-- May 1st, I love you so.
Your days passed by too quickly,
your benefits astound
and I am left to linger
till you circle back around.
