Tag Archives: love

Some opportunities to love

Some opportunities to love
are tiny and pass beneath our hands unnoticed.
Some opportunities to love
are great and frighten us into running, unable to look them in the eye.
Some opportunities to love
are persistent and flow through our days, unyielding, water over rock.

I pray
to see the tiny
meet the great
and jump into the persistent —
my spirit not worn —
polished.

Thankful

The littlest one
is fifteen months old
and he throws fits now.

They are classic ones,
head thrown backward,
back arched,
legs kicking

and every effort
is made
to get flat
on the floor.

He scrunches his face and cries.
He pushes out his lower lip.
He huffs and humphs.
He gets his head on the ground.

Now my opportunities to practice
patience, understanding, and compassion
abound. Around the corner of every moment

I can choose love.

Have I?

If I hurl the half-empty bottle into the sink,
have I nourished?

If I admonish through clenched teeth and growl,
have I taught?

If I bristle and attack as a defense,
have I understood?

If I sigh and huff, and bemoan through the house,
have a done my work well?

If resentment and bitterness ooze from my flesh,
have I been a blessing?

If disdain and self-righteousness reside in my heart,
have I loved?

If I cook and clean and wipe and wash,
prepare and present and set and serve,
freshen and fold and drive and deliver,
but have no love,
have I done anything?