"I go down to the edge of the sea./ How everything shines in the morning light!" -Mary Oliver
On vacation in Florida I follow Mary Oliver's encouragement. I take the chance to watch the sea every morning.
Standing at the edge of the ocean can be like viewing a meadow from the top of a hill or a cornfield from the limb of an oak. There is so much there.
Each individual wave, all those flowers and blades of grass below the hill. And there is every cornstalk.
"It's like a schoolhouse/ of little words, thousands of words," Oliver writes.
You can watch single waves and wonder at the totality of the ocean or blades of grass and consider all the meadows of the world. You can see Beauty as a gift of God or you can analyze it all as a scientist. Or you can try to do both.
As for all those "little words" and things, Oliver says, "First you figure out what each one means by itself…Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story."
Those who live Love and celebrate life keep reading. Others may have given up long ago.
As a caregiver you stand above oceans and atop mountains. From there, you can survey each patient and each ailment within each person.
From there, you can begin to read the whole story. From there you can touch the hem of Love.
-Erie Chapman
photograph – erie chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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