The Call

May has always been a favorite month for the extraordinary energy it delivers. The unstoppable power of nature is evident all around as tender shoots push through the earth after a winter of germination, seeking light, reaching and opening to the sun. Along with this energy comes lessons, for without them growth is not possible.

One of my clearest insights came on May 18, 2008. That was the day I found myself sitting on a mud path in the woods, facing a carpet of trilliums and unable to move my right arm. I’d started the day in an off-road riding course and had just catapulted over the handlebars, landing squarely on my shoulder, shattering it.

I knew instantly that a divine experience was unfolding and a course correction had occurred. I was forced into stillness. It was time for me to learn about my own power and listen to the voice that was trying to guide me.

Reading the deeply touching words of Oriah in her book, The Call, I couldn’t help but see the personal message her words.

“But sometimes we can listen only when our illusions of control and safety have been shattered, when we are lying on the ground — figuratively or literally in the wilderness — weeping and ready to say, as Rumi wrote:

I didn’t come here of my own accord.  

Whoever brought me here will have to come and take me home.” 

A lot of ground has been covered since that day in the woods five years ago. Listening and along with it the courage to act, are still challenges. The lessons continue, as they will for as long as I am here.

I share Oriah’s eloquent poem, with the wish that you too will find meaning as we journey along our road. Thank you Oriah for your inspiration and courage.

The Call by Oriah

I have heard it all my life,
 A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.

Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.

But always it says: Wake up my love. You are walking asleep.
 There’s no safety in that!

Remember what you are and let this knowing 
take you home to the Beloved with every breath.

Hold tenderly who you are and let a deeper knowing 
colour the shape of your humanness.

There is no where to go. What you are looking for is right here.
 Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.

There is no waiting for something to happen,
 no point in the future to get to. 
All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.

You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.
 Come home and rest.

How much longer can you live like this?
 Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles. All this trying.
 Give it up!

Let yourself be one of the God-mad, 
faithful only to the Beauty you are.

Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close,
dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.

Remember- there is one word you are here to say with your whole being.
When it finds you, give your life to it. Don’t be tight-lipped and stingy.

Spend yourself completely on the saying.
Be one word in this great love poem we are writing together.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer