Is Someone Else Pulling Your Strings?

“There is something in every one of you

that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.

It is the only true guide you will ever have.

And if you cannot hear it,

you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings

that somebody else pulls.”

-Howard Thurman

Be Alive Until You Are Not

The singular and cheerful life

of any flower

in anyone’s garden

or any still unowned field–

if there are any –

catches me

by the heart,

by its color,

by its obedience

to the holiest of laws:

be alive

until you are not.

-from “The Singular and Cheerful Life,” by Mary Oliver