Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Invitation




















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

I find myself wondering if it’s just not being heard.

These things happen every day.

Recently, for me, it’s come in the form
of a little red screech owl:

In the afternoon, when the
sun gives just enough warmth to
mask November’s chill,

I arrive…

having hiked to the mountain top

…like a parishioner standing
below a pulpit, looking upward
for something that I don’t yet know
how to fully believe in,

And he sits there snugged in the three-quarter hollow,
eyes closed, feathers fluffed,
some lifting and twisting at the edges
when the wind’s fingers pass by,
others rising and falling…

“Did you see it just happen now?”

…when he breathes.

And that’s it.

That’s the invitation.
That’s the response.

That’s our ceremony.

To fail to show up and participate
would be to deny that persistent voice
that is constantly asking me,

“Did you see that miracle?”


~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author
Published in "Coming Home: Learning to Actively Love this World"

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Monday, November 11, 2013

Attentiveness















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

This world is known only through attentiveness;
snails, their eyes circumnavigating on long stalks, 
are wise to things, and I think this
is also true of stones. On some days,
it can be me. But on other days,
I am lost to some other place and its speed-crazed trivialities.
If I believed in shame, I’d place it here.

Every tracker trains to move slowly,
but not all proceed down the trail re-membering
what they are searching for.
This makes a difference.

Tonight I’m just being still, and sitting with the realization that
I don’t yet know the pattern of lines running
the length of your palm.
It’s not for lack of interest,

It’s just that souls can take
awhile to  
say, “Hello.”
Eventually our hands will meet.
I have not forgotten.

~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author
Published in "Coming Home: Learning to Actively Love this World"
Feel free to share