People do incredible things

People do incredible things

For my birthday one friend

gave me a deck of cards

by Maria Popova

each with a sketch of a bird

and a poem

I was inspired

but also ashamed

that I did not think

to write 100 poems

one each day

to accompany a bird

on a beautiful card

in an elegant box

A great danger in life

is to be diminished

by the success you see

out there, some triumph

like Popova’s divinations

says if only

I were less distracted

I could do something like that

A dusting of shame

is just the first layer

not the real message

which is actually the question

Why are we afraid

of the freedom that committing

to our artesian potential

would provide

Why does the real work

of becoming ourselves

scare us back to diversions

we never really chose

Why do we keep the scaffold

when we could stand

in the dirt at dusk

leaning on a shovel

tired in the good way

from working outside

Like digging a well

you have to keep going

to find water

Most people

stick to the surface

not on purpose

but by default

We like to say

everyone is trying

their best

but really

everyone likes to think

they are trying

their best

What matters

is that you are

trying your best

Remember;

grace is the descent

effort is the climb

one foot in front of the other

and other cliches

that when embodied

(I mean really felt)

are small disciplines

micro-devotions

to the self you are becoming

and what that self

will give the world