Waiting: A Poem on Thanksgiving Eve

Waiting

by Stephen W. Smith

on Thanksgiving Eve Morning 2008

__________________________

Sitting in the hush of darkness,

alone star in the western sky.

Silhouetted horizon awaits,

the pulling up of the thanksgiving morn.

Waiting. Yes, waiting.

for the first ray of morning's glory.

Now darkness, soon glory.

Squeezed in the in-between.

How old Lazarus must have stirred

when the light of that day first crept in.

No waiting for him.

Now, I am in his place.

That you would come for me,

stills my soul in breathless wonder.

Yet, it is still dark now.

And I am waiting, waiting, yes waiting still.

_____________________________

Copyright 2008. Stephen W. Smith

The Mirror

"even things about yourself that you most deeply want to change first must be accepted even embraced.... Until we are willing to accept the unpleasant truths of our existence, we rationalize or deny responsibility for our behavior." --David Benner in "The Gift of Being Yourself"

Few of us stop long enough to look in the mirror. Oh, we do when we take the razor to the whiskers or for women--I think they take a longer look. The mirror reveals, "things are they are." Wrinkles, frown marks, stress lines--the freckle we wish was not there and that ugly mole. Should I have it removed?

No transformation is possible without the mirror. Until we face the realities of what we will see, we will remain the same--remain in the tomb--remain with the graveclothes on! Here's what I'm finding is needed for me to take a long, disconcerting look in the mirror and view my true self.

1. Courage. Without courage to face certain realities I will live in denial. I will continue to live the lie that I don't need to stop--look at the way things are.

2. Risk. Without risk, I can believe what I want. Construct reality in the way I want it to be.

3. Solitude. Without solitude, Nouwen reminds us, "it is vi ritually impossible to live the spiritual life without solitude." Solitude allows us to face the wild animals within. The dragons and cess pools. The ugly gnats that pester us and to hear the monkeys in the banana trees who yell condemning statements towards us. "You're a failure. You're a disgrace. You are nothing and never will amount to anything." I think we stay busy and avoid solitude cause we don't want to hear what the monkeys will say. We don't want to sense the dragons. Thus busyness annihilates the heart and transformation cannot happen.

What do you think?