Hello out there!
Just little old me who is just a woman who loves a few precious things in the world. I love books, and have reached out onto the internet this past year to authors as one of the wonderful things that has come into my life. I read authors blogs and enter their contest to win books and other small things. But I also participate in chats with authors and other readers too.

One of the wonderful things to come out of it too is I come in contact with others on issues that mean a great deal to me also. I get to learn about the all kinds of things that have great meaning to me and them as well……*S*
One of those things are meaningful words, phrase and quotes that speak volumes I hope not just to me, but others as well. I collect quotes, images and some poetry. I also write every once in awhile my own poetry too. Not professionally, but usually about something that I feel strongly about. I also rant on occasion when the spirit moves me….*S*
Here is a poem that woke me up a few years back and touched all those places in my soul at a certain time in my life and so I’ll share it with you who happen to wander to this little place on the net….*S*

THE INVITATION

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of
meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream,
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have
been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear
of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without
moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy,
mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can
bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be
faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day, and
if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on
the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

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 the night of grief and despair, weary and
bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

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.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like
the company you keep in the empty moments.

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/person.htm