NASA Blue Marble of Western Hemisphere
http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov//2429/globe_east_540.jpg
Today I had a moment of clarity, and, as if in a fairy tale, rushed to share it with those in the bewitched waters, the depthless well of cyberspace, and the people who live there. We who share the life of the mind.
Andra Watkins, this is for you as you launch your creation out there into the world. And it is for those who drift around in these waters. Wondering if there is a point, but creating anyway.
Maddie and I were driving to her ballet lesson. We passed a cosy bungalow with a drive and my head craned round, and we both said “Ooooh.” How do people manage to live in lovely spaces like that? I wondered aloud, unwisely; how do people support that lifestyle? And Maddie said, I know, Mum. It’s like that with exams, too. Some people are more able, and work hard and achieve amazing things: and some people work hard just to stay afloat.
Or words to that effect.
And then I said, Maddie, it’s important to put on shire horse blinkers, and not look from side to side. For we were put on this earth for one reason: and that reason is to create in our own skins.
And suddenly, as I drove, the rainy January day went away, and I was filled with a picture of Earth which has existed for some four and a half billion years. Whether we credit science or a god with its inception, one cannot but marvel at its creativity, from the maelstrom which cavorts around a nucleus to the ponderous and infinitely beautiful dance of earth around her compatriots, governed by Padre Gravity.This existence, from microcosm to macrocosm, is a riotous artistry of creation.
And it is precise, too. Biology builds the breathtaking from cellular level upwards. The laws of physics are intricate and ingenious, though some of them still baffle.
I said to Maddie,as the picture formed in my head: the earth has waited patiently for the moment you were born on this earth. It projected, and calculated, and schemed to bring you about. And your existence has an irreplaceable part to play in its act of creation. No one can ever fill your shoes. It is why, I went on, mothers and fathers cry at their children’s birth: another glorious chapter in creation has begun.
The other day on television they interviewed a woman who was more than 100 years old. Sometimes, she said, she would ask herself, what use am I to anyone? What’s the point of me being here? And then she added: “Then I wake up the next morning, pick myself up the next morning, and go on living.”
Her exact words. Life, my friends, is a vocation. The earth is a 4.5 billion year artistic installation, and every brush stroke in each of its lives- from a birth cry, to the next day in more than 100 years – is a work of mighty, awesome, terrible wonder.
Kate Shrewsday 
Exactly right, we live and we create and we take another step the next day.
🙂
Love it.
Kate, this is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing these powerful words and the reminder that life is a vocation.
Hi Lisa, thank you for reading, and for that lovely comment!
This is a lovely post. I’m glad you told Maddie she has an irreplaceable part in creation. It takes so many of us a lifetime to learn that.
Too right, Kathy. And it is so easy to forget, too..
Now that has to be your most profound statement / post ever. Well done Kate.
Thank you Brian 🙂
Such a wonderful post and such a dear Maddie is. It is in youth the likes of Maddie where my faith in the world and life ahead if so full of hope.
In our country, Penny, more and more, we are seeing that the young people are the ones with the most level heads. The child is the father of the man…..
Wise words, Kate.
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.” ~ Anonymous
Quite, Nancy! Living in the moment is the secret, I’m sure.
Reblogged this on To write is to write is to write and commented:
I planned to post today, but Kate Shrewday has written such a beautiful–and important–piece that I must reblog it. Please read, and note what she told her daughter. It applies to us all.
Kathy, thank you so much. It’s lovely to think people might stop and consider they are essential to a vast creative process today.
Made me feel I know why it is I always want to be a scientist, just life is there, why living is exploring. So glad to hear about Maddie as so many young people now can be aware of life, self aware, other aware. Keep letting us know!
Thanks, Elspeth. I’d like to find more time to write….I never realised how all-consuming life with teenagers can be!
Oh my, Kate. I haven’t commented in a while, but this brought me out of my curmudgeon-perspective. How many times can I Hit the LIKE button?
Hi Barb, and Happy new Year! Thanks for that lovely comment. It’s always a risk putting this stuff out there: nice to know it has helped today.
Reblogged this on me, mine and other bits and commented:
For when you wonder what it’s all about- wonderful words from Kate
Thanks Fiona 🙂
What a great way to start the day. Thanks Kate.
I wonder if there’s an NVQ for Earth? 😉 Great expression of thought Kate 🙂
What a gift these conversations are to your daughter, Kate. It’s a wonderful thing to look up in the sky with awe and feel so small and yet hold on to the sense of personal significance. There is something quite remarkable that stays alive in our spirits that encourages us to keep on going even when the body begins to wear out. Your thoughts are beautifully crafted here as always and set me to thinking!
Beautifully written Kate. Oh that every life would be able to see its worth!
Thank you
Thank you for this Kate…absolutely beautiful.
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