I used to have a treasure box of pencils when I was young.
I have no idea why pencils were so important to me, but they were… never to be used but just treasured in their unsharpened perfection.
Recently, I’ve noticed my oldest has a treasure box. At first it was just a box of Pokémon cards, but it has expanded to include a variety of things he likes to look at in the mornings as we drive to school. He has them all arranged just so… in unused perfection.
And each and every object never fails to bring him joy.
When did I stop keeping treasure boxes? When did I stop being astonished by pencils? How can I reclaim that love of the world and all I find in it?
And how can you do the same?
My prayer today is again by Mary Oliver. I’ve used this poem before but it called to me again today. Let our work this Friday be to simply love the world in all its perfect imperfection…
“My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird -⠀
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,
Which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart, and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over,
how it is that we live forever.”
Have a wonderful Friday!
