The Way We Practice
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We learn by doing and by introspection, the way we lift, first with one hand and then the other. Often, though, I'm brought back into the living of life by those I love.

The Way We Practice

The Earth spins on its axis drifting through the dark, seeming to go nowhere as it inches its way around the sun. What if this is the way of things? What if every heart spins on its story? What if every mind spins on its best guess of how this all goes together? What if the very cells -- in stone, bird, fish and camel -- spin on their little nodes of life-force inching things to heal and grow? What if our particular lives spin on the axis we call spirit, each of us inching our way through the dark around God? What if love is the way we practice spinning about each other until the holiness of things appears?

As I'm spinning, you come running. Seeing the light on your face stops my endless thinking. You take me to the blue birdhouse where six of the smallest birds I've ever seen are quivering -- their seed-like beaks gaping for food. Just below the surface, everything is threaded and true.

A Question to Walk With: Describe which way you learn: by doing or by reflecting. Give an example.

For more poetry for the soul, click here.

For more by Mark Nepo, click here.

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