from The Invitation

By writer and Native American elder Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living... I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow...

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own...

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own...

I want to know if you can see the beauty even when its not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from its presence.

It doesn't interest me to know where you live, or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

Reading of October 18, 2009