I Am Tempted To Turn Inward

I am tempted.

Tempted to

turn inward.

Tempted to shield my face from light

and get comfortable in the dark.

There’s a part of me that is ready to fight

and there’s a part of me

that just wants to watch dumb TV and eat chips.

There’s so much happening in the world

and in my home, that my heart sometimes just

goes in circles

wondering where to start,

wondering where it all stops.

Have you been there?

When your eyes flit from headline to headline

and you just aren’t sure how to absorb it all

and so it all just slides off of you

and piles onto the floor.

When you wake up you realize

you are sleeping on an island.

You are surrounded by the issues

that you left lay –

the concerns that you refuse to

enter into are queued up on the floor

waiting for your slumber to end.

I am tempted.

Tempted to think that

what I say

what I do

doesn’t even matter.

There’s so much pain,

so much wrong

so much inequality.

I am tempted to think

that what happens

has little to do with me.

But truth draws me towards light,

asks tough questions

and implores me to move

off my island.

Truth reveals me to myself and gives

light to the situations in my world and in

the world at large.

What I do, matters.

What you do, matters.

What you say, matters.

In big and in small ways, it matters.

And so it is up to us to find ways

to speak and move.

To keep the light.

Share the light.

 Searching for kindling:

1. Are you on an island trying to stay asleep?
2. What issue are you avoiding?
3. What truth are you hiding from?
4. Waking up and diving into the issues that we try to ignore will help us realize that what we do matters. What can you do?