Clearing - Martha Postlethwaite - Mindfulness Association

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.

by Martha Postlethwaite

Reassuring and wise words by Martha Postlethwaite. It sounds like she’s been on quite a journey, which lead to writing a book called Addiction and Recovery: A Spiritual Pilgrimage and now sees her work as the pastor of The Recovery Church in Minnesota. This poem has been shared many times and has even inspired Allie Weigh to compose a choral piece around it… I guess it struck a chord! 😉

To me it speaks of the importance of pausing, taking time to practice, going on retreat. This is where I find moments of clearing in my often full life, and they are so important! It is in the spaces in between getting caught up in thinking that insights have a chance to arise and get noticed, that ‘turning in a different direction‘ becomes possible. As I’m writing this, I can feel longing for a retreat space arising, I know how much that helps me ‘to give myself to this world so worthy of rescue’… Luckily, there are opportunities for retreating coming up in the dark days between Christmas and New Year that offer space for ‘waiting there, patiently’… and seeing what gifts land ‘into your own cupped hands’.