The world has gone insane with work. 

You alone have the courage to rest.

The world has lost its playfulness, its joy of being. 

You alone have the courage to live like a free child.

To touch life at the point of creation. 

To laugh at cats and snow. 

People seem busy, but they are running.

Running from their feelings.

Running from shame and guilt.

Running so they don’t have to stop.

And meet themselves.

And wonder who they really are. 

You alone have the courage to stop.

To feel your feet in contact with the sacred ground.

To notice your breath rising and falling. 

To feel yourself caressed by the morning sunshine,

filled by the afternoon, and entered by the evening. 

The world needs you, because you are not fully in this world.

You bring a presence that warms this world.

Your innocence is a balm for this world’s certainties. 

The world has become jaded, but you are new. 

~ Jeff Foster