Learn to be Astonished

“I know a lot of fancy words. I tear them from my heart and tongue. Then I pray.” This is the first recognition of the Lord from Mary Oliver’s book Thirst. I am guilty of trying to pray these elaborate prayers to try and somehow impress God with my extensive use of synonyms. This quote really arrested my heart for how many insincere some of my prayers seemed. It really is about a genuine surrendered heart that desires to do the Lords will. That needs to be my prayer. Interactive learning has really helped me fully understand the literature we are reading. When we read the poem outside, though some of the ducks and trees were distracting, I could see everything working in harmony. I liked Mary’s other poem Messenger as well. There was a line that said “Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” I interpreted this quote as nothing I really accomplish is because of me. All good things come from God. So my work is to stand there and be a willing vessel and let God do what he does best, Amaze people. I think it can also mean that sometimes our lives get caught up in the hurried lifestyle, and there needs to be a time to just reflect and be still. I did something of that sort when we had class on the dock. I notice small details that I never would have noticed. For example, ducks fly extremely close to the water when they are taking off. Wind waves are created from the up and down motion of the ducks wings. I am really looking forward to writing my own nature poem, especially when I noticed how creative I can be with my character based short story.