One is NOT Only

Things to Think by Robert Bly is one of my favorite poems.  The stanzas remind me I have a choice in the way I interpret the world. The poem begins with, “Think in ways you’ve never thought before…”

The scene in the picture above was a good reminder of this to me today. It had been raining all day-well really for weeks. The newspapers have been reporting ” 2018 rainest year in history for the Tennessee River Valley-breaks 1973 record!”. But what caught my attention on my drive home was the little band of sun and blue sky over the ridge. It was so beautiful, I pulled off the road and watched it slowly disappear behind the clouds. Come back blue sky come back! Then I reminded myself I can choose to think in ways I have never thought before- I get to drive all the way along a river to work every day. It is totally different every day and different in the morning than the evening. I never tire of it. I can focus on weeks of rain or what is in front of me right now- that little sunny band highlighted by the grey sky.

The poem continues “…think that a moose 
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers 
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen. 

When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about 
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven…”

I doubt I will see a moose rising out of Melton Hill Lake but…I have played hide and seek with a blue heron from my kayak.

What do we expect when someone knocks on our door? Lately the news of the glitter bomb vs. the package thief was all over the news. Apparently packages are being stolen all the time right off your front porch!

I saw this story on every news site and multiple Facebook postings. I guess this guy did think in a new way and it was clever and funny. But I heard that news repeated over and over-package thieves everywhere! I wasn’t hearing about people bringing packages back…which is exactly what happened to me! I received notification my package had been delivered one Friday and it was not there when I got home but, I was leaving to go out of town so I just thought maybe it would come later that evening. When I got back to my house that Sunday evening I found the following note with my package on my porch swing.

Apparently the Amazon delivery took my package to a totally different street with the same house number. The street names are not even remotely similar. My neighbor, Russell, found my street and brought the package to me giving me his phone number and assured me he would bring any more mis-delivered packages and asked if I would return the favor. I don’t call him a neighbor because he lives close by, but because he acted like a neighbor. How nice was that I thought! He could have kept it, could have ignored it, but instead he delivered the package to my door! I kept thinking about this everytime I saw the glitter bomb package thief story. It may not be glittery but it is much more inspiring. I sent Russell a Christmas card and thanked him for being a highlight of my year.

What do you want for your life this year? One thing in life we actually do have control over is what we choose to “think on”. Practice those thoughts. So often we think we can inoculate ourself from pain by thinking about all the scary horrible possibilites. I remember sharing one of my “mother fears” with my son when he was a teenager and he turned and looked at me and said,” why would you EVER let yourself think things like that?”. I took it to heart…how do I want my world to be…practice those thoughts, practice, practice, because choosing joy does take practice…and who knows…maybe I will see that moose rising from the river!

©  Michelle Campanis 2019