The Invitation

[vickie h]

I don't know how many of you have seen this, but it holds true for all of us.......

THE INVITATION

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore tustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
and if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the moon
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
Iwant to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Oriah Elder Mountain

Much love to all of you, Vickie

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Vickie, This is a beautiful post. I will re-read and linger over it to be sure. Where does it come from? Who or what is oriah elder mountain? Thanks so much for sharing this. ANDI

[vickie h]

I posted the wrong name....it is Oriah Mountain Dreamer, though she used to be called Elder, she no longer claims that name as it is of Indian heritage. She is an Author and Teacher who lives in Canada, is of Scottish descent and a very wise woman.

She has a book out called An Ivitation (got that wrong too, blame it on the chemo, huh!). I thought her poem was pretty profound and thought of you when I was posting it...again, it goes right back to your truth, Andi and to all of ours.

Thank you for the truths you posted, causing some pretty wonderful discussions and very heated (in a good way) thoughts to come forth from so many. It is people like you that keep that smile in my heart, the soft brown Earth between my toes, and the song of a distant Lark in my throat. Ah, the wonderment of life.....Love to you always, Vickie

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Vickie, Re-read it today. It is so sublime. Every sentence. To be lingered over time and time again. So many truths within. Spell-binding to me! And beautious!


“Every truth we see is one to give to the world, not to keep to ourselves alone”, Elizabeth Cady Stanton bravely noted. She was a leading suffragette back in the 1800s who fought for equal rights for women and for slaves as well. Was she ahead of her time? Groundbreaking information, while standing at the threshold of a New Era, sounds ludicrous, unheard of by definition. It’s groundbreaking, after all. New and yet old. Ms. Stanton had an Insight. A KNOWING. It is my prayer to not keep what I have found to be true from the world. I share w/my heart open. I dare. Got bitten a few times, but overall I feel the love. And I pray those who snarled a bit will reconsider such groundbreaking, new and yet old, ideas.

The Aborigines, the American Indians, Eastern culture KNEW these things, as did Plato and others.

Sending love and many thanks for AN INVITATION. I printed it out to save. Thinking good thoughts of you Vickie, and all my Soul Sisters/Warrior Women... ANDI

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

THE INVITATION -- I googled it. You had it right. Oriah Mountain Dreamer. To clarify... ANDI

[Audrey]

Thanks for posting this, vickie--I love it.

[vickie h]

Thank you for your posts. I spent all day at my grandchildren's baseball tournaments (they won!) so I am getting off to bed now (more tournaments tomorrow) but wanted to tell you both how grateful I am for your support. May you both always be blessed, I love you, Vickie