Rumi

[supercheesegirl]

I'm taking a little class on Rumi at my church, and I'm really enjoying it. Here's a poem we talked about tonight:

-----

Today, like every other day we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

-----

I love this poem because it makes "beauty" into a verb. Go do some beauty! This reminds me that all we can control are our own actions. We can't control the things that happen to us--everything from mean cashiers to hurricanes will happen, and we can't stop it. What we can control is how we act: we can choose to be grumpy and angry, or to hide away alone, or we can choose to be joyful and bring beauty into the world regardless of what the world has handed us.

I think that appreciating and contributing to the beauty in the world is kind of the definition of spirituality. As the poem says, there are hundreds of ways to be worshipful, to pray, to love beauty.

Spring is a time when we naturally appreciate beauty, and it moves us to create more. Two different people looked me up today just to tell me that I am loved and missed. It makes me really happy to know that springtime inspired my friends to think of me. You two both brought beauty to my world today. I hope that this little poem brings some beauty to all of you.

Comments

[pocketwitch.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.

[espadarte.livejournal.com]

the last line of that is on the wayside pulpit at the UU church in amherst just now

i love rumi!

[indigoruadh.livejournal.com]

Yay Rumi! Thanks for sharing. Always good to get more Rumi out there. Hugs!