Sunday thoughts

Today in testimony meeting, one woman said, "It is a daily struggle to live in this world." That just kind of summed up how I've been feeling lately, and I was moved to hear someone else articulate it.

I know that when I'm feeling this way, I need to evaluate my daily life and activities and see what has been neglected. I know what I need to do, to some extent. And I need to exercise patience regarding the things that I still don't know about.

I came across this poem recently that speaks to me. I found it in Cat's Cradle by Chieko Okazaki and she said, "Patience is a worthy and fruitful approach to a great many problems. I love a poem by Carol Lynn Pearson called "Creation Continued," because she talks about many of the little wildernesses that we face as women and what we can do about it."


I will continue
To create the universe today
Right where God left off.

Little pockets of chaos
Somehow survived the ordering
And I feel moved
To move upon them
As in the beginning
The Spirit of God moved
Upon the face of the waters.

I will move upon my backyard today
And the weeds will be subdued
And the flowers can grow
And it will be good.

I will move long-distance
Upon a broken heart
And leave a little balm
And it will be good.

I will move upon the hunger of my children
With salad and spaghetti
Which is Emily's favorite
And it will be good
And even they will say so.
And I will move too
Upon their minds,
Leaving a little poem
Or an important thought
And that will be even better
Though they won't say so.

I will move upon
Birth defects and AIDS
With five and ten dollar checks
To help the scientists
Who are battling the big chaos
And I will move upon world hunger
With a twenty-four dollar check
For little Marilza in Brazil
And it will be good.

I will move upon
The kitchen floor
And the dirty laundry
And a blank piece of paper
And at the end of the day
Have a little creation to show.

And the evening and the morning
Are my eighteen thousand
and ninety-sixth day
And tomorrow will start another one.
And here is chaos and there is chaos
And who knows if creation
Will finally be done?