Be Ready

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?

How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?

What scent of old wood hovers, what softened

sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world

than the breathing respect that you carry

wherever you go right now? Are you waiting

for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this

new glimpse that you found; carry into evening

all that you want from this day. This interval you spent

reading or hearing this, keep it for life -

What can anyone give you greater than now,

starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

~ William Stafford ~

 
I love the way Stafford takes ordinary everyday things and makes them extraordinary. When you find yourself fully present, there is an almost magical feeling that there is nothing greater than NOW. He reminds us to keep it for life and know there is nothing anyone can give you that it greater than the gift of being present.