Calmer and collected (Louise)

In the daily poetry list I subscribe to, I received the gift of this poem by Alice Walker:

Expect Nothing

Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
Become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.

Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star;
Tame wild disappointment
With caress unmoved and cold
Make of it a parka
For your soul.

Discover the reason why
So tiny a human midget
Exists at all
So scared unwise
But expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
------


A wonderful reminder that joy and life grow out of seeing what IS not what I want it to be. I decided to not join the choir this year, and it felt like the right decision. I will watch for and be nurtured by surprise; it was my expectations that GA would be the same as last time that got me into a snit. Shame on me; I know better.

Opening Ceremony did for me what it always does: remind me of the larger picture. Hearing about what Unitarian Univeralism committed to long before I was involved tells me once again that this is the place for me.

CLF In-Gathering was nice. I always like to the faces behind the names. Jane gives such large hugs from such a petite person!

We also had dinner with old friends we usually see only at GA. It has become a tradition and I love that.

Off to morning plenary...