Questions to Ponder…
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
Summer can bring time for leisurely walks to ponder juicy questions on your own or with others.
Immersed in Rivvy Neshama’s book, Recipes for a Sacred Life, I’ve been struck by how she wove two seemingly different pieces of wisdom (or recipes) throughout the book.
She starts with what apparently was a battle cry from Chief Crazy Horse, “It’s a good day to die!” Others now use this phrase daily as a call to live their best life. After her mother heard her say the phrase for one morning ritual, she told Rivvy “It’s not a bad day to live either” so a new mantra, “It’s a good day to live!” was born. Both statements beg the question, what makes a day good to live or good to die?
What experiences would lead you to proclaim with confidence that today is a good day to live? Would you say it on a gorgeous morning when you wake with a smile or when you anticipate good things happening? What would it take for you to boldly proclaim it every day no matter what?
Conversely, what would shift within you or in how you lived your life by proclaiming “It’s a good day to die”? What would bring you to such a place of peace or confidence in the next life that you’d comfortably make that statement and then go about living your life? Would stating this daily guide you to live your best life now? Hmm…some questions to ponder.
May you be blessed with time this summer to ponder and live the questions that are calling you to your best life.
At the End of Day
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.”
―Henri Nouwen
A Good Time
“We’re here for a good time, not a long time, so make every minute count.”
― Dawna Walter
Invitation
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
—Mary Oliver, “Invitation,” Red Bird by Mary Oliver | Goodreads
