Where Time (and Life) Goes

Life never seems to slow down.  I suppose this is okay, as long as I remember three things: friends, food, and writing.  This week, I had a chance to cook with a dear friend of mine.  We made a delicious stuffed chicken recipe (I suggest it... easy, cheesy, and cheap!  Check it out at cooking creation).  After eating, we rushed off in an attempt to get to my work on time.  Afterwards, my friend wanted the recipe, and in her email, she said, "Thankful for another Thursday of suppering with you, dear friend" and it reminded me of how thankful I am for times like that.  How wonderful it is to spend time connecting with friends!  And while "life" doesn't slow down while we eat, it doesn't speed up either, and I'm thankful for that. 
As we ate, we also chatted about books and poetry, a topic not uncommon with us.  And as I write tonight, I'm reminded yet again of why I read.  It isn't to gain knowledge, although I enjoy learning as I read; it isn't about studying every detail of a writer's style to pick from it what I like, although I continually do so;  I read because in it, I uncover new ways to see the world and new ways to live.  Reading breathes life into me, whether it's a poem, a book, scripture, or the directions for a new recipe I found on Pintrest.  And as a reminder for me tonight is this wonderful poem by Mary Oliver:

Morning Poem

Every morning

the world

is created.

Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.

And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead ---

if it's all you can do

to keep on trudging ---

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,

every morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray. 

 So as you venture forth this day, do so knowing that life may never slow down, it may never seem easy, but there is hope.  Life isn't lived in the burdens.  It's lived in the joy.