As you prepare for 2009...

These are times of great change both personally and collectively.  As you prepare your goals for 2009, you might want to consider the wise words below and the causes that may have been silently tucked away for too long.  The biggest challenges hold many opportunities for renewal, growth, and contribution.  This is a time for living/working with purpose.  Enjoy! 

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.  I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.  I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and 
closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without 
moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. 

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can 
dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your 
fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, 
or to remember the limitations of being a human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you're telling me is true. 
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; 
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own 
soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even if it's not pretty every 
day, and if you can source your life from God's presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and 
still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver moon, "YES!"

It doesn't interest me where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and 
despair, weary, bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for 
the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. 
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me 
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside, when all else falls 
away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself; and if you truly 
like the company you keep in the empty moments.

~ inspired by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Native American Elder, May 1994

May 2009 be a great year!