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December 13, 2009
Published on Dec 13, 2009
“The Guest House,”
by Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,meet them at the door laughing,and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
From “The Essential Rumi,” trans. Coleman Barks
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I have been ‘Cancer Girl’ for the last four plus months. I have allowed her to be everything I am. I have been a fighter. Fight the fear, fight the fatigue, fight the sadness borne of loss, fight to retain a normal semblance of business as usual.
But as I sit in the quiet of a cold Sunday morning, I smile at Cancer Girl, the fighter. I honor her and tell her that there is a place in my heart where she will reside with gratitude, always. That soon, I won’t need her to be everything. She has shown me my own strength, far beyond what I thought possible. She has revealed in me a humbling vulnerablilty I never knew existed. I am changed by her presence.
I am still here. Wobbly, but here.
Gratitude. Who knew?