Looking

I recall an August afternoon in 1973
when I took my daughter, then seven,
to see what Georgia O’Keeffe had done with where she had been.
One of the vast O’Keeffe “Sky Above Clouds” canvases
floated over the back stairs in the Chicago Art Institute that day,
dominating what seemed to be several stories of empty light,
    and my daughter looked at it once,
        ran to the landing, and kept on looking.

“Who drew it,” she whispered after a while.
        I told her.
                “I need to talk to her,” she said finally.
       
                                            Joan Didion, The White Album

 

 

 

 

Hold that thought

I could never, ever have said what I was thinking out loud,
because it would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.

                            Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

 

 

 

 

 

Your call

I for sure believe in miracles.
For me, a miracle is seeing the world with light in your eyes.
It's knowing there's always hope and possibility where none seems to exist.
Many people are so closed to miracles
that even when one is boldly staring them in the face,
they label it coincidence or serendipity.
I call it like I see it.

                        Oprah Winfrey, What I Know for Sure 

 

 

 

 

 

Logical impossibility

It is as impossible for man
    to demonstrate the existence of God
as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes
    to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.

            Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Lift Your Right Arm

Lift your right arm, she said.
I lifted my right arm.
Lift your left arm, she said.
I lifted my left arm. Both of my arms were up.
Put down your right arm, she said.
I put it down.
Put down your left arm, she said.
I did.
Lift your right arm, she said.
I obeyed.
Put down your right arm.
I did.
Lift your left arm.
I lifted it.
Put down your left arm.
I did.
Silence. I stood there, both arms down, waiting for her next
command. After a while I got impatient and said, what next.
Now it's your turn to give the orders, she said.
All right, I said. Tell me to lift my right arm.

                                    Peter Cherches 

 

 

 

 

 

The first task of love

In order to know what is just
in a person-to-person encounter,
love listens.
It is its first task to listen.
No human relation,
especially no intimate one,
is possible without mutual listening.

        Paul Tillich, Love, Power, and Justice