I want to grow to love my neighbors as much as I love myself. And I want to grow to count the natural world as my neighbor. At best we tend to ignore what we don't love. At worst we misuse or abuse it.
We humans don't have long to learn this. We misuse the natural world so 'effectively' these days, and there are so many of us now, that we are on the brink of effectively destroying what sustains life. Really.
So many of us love Mary Oliver poems. May we learn to love them more! And differently--to hear them like bells across cities not only calling us to joy and insight but also to prayer and growth.
Poem of the One World, Mary Oliver
This
morning
the
beautiful white heron
was
floating along above the water
and
then into the sky
of
this the one world
we
all belong to
where
everything
sooner
or later
is
part of everything else
which
thought made me feel
for a
little while
quite
beautiful myself.
