by Martha Postlethwaite
Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worth of rescue.
Postlethwaite is the pastor of The Recovery Church in St Paul, Minnesota. She has written a book called Addiction and Recovery: A Spiritual Pilgrimage. In the book she reflects on her pilgrimage of recovery through valleys of despair and vistas of resurrection. This poem has been shared many times and has inspired Allie Weigh to compose a choral piece around it which you can listen to here.