Tiniest Nails
I received a gift this week.
It felt pretty magical.
And the biggest part of the magic were the words included in that gift. So, I'm going to give them to you all today. I hope you don't mind. May you be a tiny nail. May you stay upstream.
They are originally from Mary Oliver.
"Sometimes the desire to be lost again, as long ago, comes over me like a vapor. With growth into adulthood, responsibilities claimed me, so many heavy coats. I didn't choose them, I don't fault them, but it took time to reject them. Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don't keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever upstream. May I look down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect."
- from Upstream - Selected Essays by Mary Oliver 2016