today i had lunch with a fabulous woman who is on a difficult journey... questioning the faith of her childhood and choosing to struggle even though it would be much easier to either reject it altogether or accept it blindly.  that is courage.  

this is one of my favorite poems and i kept thinking about it while we were talking...

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice–

though the whole house began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!" 

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop. 

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried 

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations, 

though their melancholy 

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little, 

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly 

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do–

determined to save

the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

so tonight i am praying for my new friend and all the rest of us who are edge-dwellers... who can't not question and who struggle with truth and knowing and the unanswerable questions of life. may life in the margins draw us to others that are in the margins economically, socially, physically and emotionally and may God give us the courage to follow Her where She leads.