Invisible Work
(a work-in-progress poem*)
If you’re going to do something,
Why not do it boldly?
If you’re going to say something,
Why not say it with your whole heart?
It doesn’t have to be for the masses.
It’s not to convince anyone of anything.
Not for accolades or praise,
But to open as a conduit.
Invisible work:
The prayer.
The practice.
The offering of shelter.
The sitting together in silence.
The sharing:
What I’ve lived.
What I’ve learned.
Authentically expressing
The whole of what I’ve experienced,
A punctuation mark in this story of us.
An invitation:
A place for you to settle in.
A space for pain to land,
For fear to let go its hold.
Could you allow joy
To seep into the space between
Expectation and unfoldment,
For compassion to be what connects
Through grief, through release
Of disappointments,
Not-enoughness,
The pressure of time
And imagined destinations?
Listen:
You might hear something
That resonates with what you know.
We are a constellation
Of relational intelligences.
Nature nurturing
The technology of being,
The technology of becoming,
The face of the divine shining
Through the face of you and you
And you and me.
The heart of the divine beating
Through voice, hands,
Pen, presence.
‘Til we are brave enough to meet
Another where they are and say:
I hear you.
I accept your story.
Let’s be in this together.
Wherever you are in this moment, I want you to know that I appreciate the invisible work you do every day. Unquantifiable. Mostly uncompensated. And likely the most valuable work in the world. It is the energy that connects us, and by us I mean all that is, all that ever was, and all that ever will be.
Breathe into that for a moment.
Thank you for you.
With love,
Jennifer
* This poem was inspired through a conversation with a group of humans who I am honored to call friends and colleagues. They moved me by sharing their stories, their vulnerability, and their care. They remind me of what is made possible when we meet each other in the heart.