Today's response to the Mary Oliver poem, Mindful, came during a road trip we took today to see Salvation Mountain, out east of the Salton Sea in the desert of southern California. Salvation MOuntain was created by one man, Leonard
Knight. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." I was taken by many of the sweet details in his artwork - when someone creates, over 30 years, a monumental 50 foot tall, 200 foot wide mountain of painted adobe art you don't expect to see such small details as well. I was taken by his focus, determination and sense of purpose. One of my favorite details are the blue birds of happiness (as I think of them) that cover many of the surfaces of the truck (and tires!)
I am going to try and
respond each day to this moving poem by Mary Oliver as my daily practice for
2017.
Mindful –
Every Day I see and hear something that more or less kills
me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It is
what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world
– to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking
about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant- but of
the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh good
scholar, I day to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as
these- the untrimmable light of the world, the oceans shine, the prayers that
are made out of grass?
