Love > Fear

And what, please tell me, is actually important?
A tangible task would make me  
much  
    more  
        comfortable.
 
Is it  
to know the names of the birds on my morning walk,
  notice the springing up of crocuses
    (purple hope in a season of mud)
  and to rejoice in the sunrise on my face?
After all,
I am an insignificant speck –
  surely this is all that can be expected of me
    as I drift, unattached,
      through my brief moment in the universe.
live, laugh, love….
 
Or is it  
to work faithfully within my abilities
  accept the reality of my limitedness
    and focus my gaze on those within my reach?
Engineering my significant efforts  
  for tangible benefit of those to whom I’m responsible --
    tireless service for a prescribed purpose.
Let others take care of others,
  after all, one can only do so much.
faith, family, friends…
 
Or is it  
to feel and grieve and rage
  at the plight of the oppressed,
    advocating and poem-izing,
      opening my heart to nameless hurts of the world?
Applying every gift, bestowed or earned
  to reconciling relationships, making broken things whole
    and hardened systems tender
      in order to advance those I'll never meet.
act justly, love mercy, walk humbly…
 
Deep down, I suspect  
  that what’s required of me
    is probably “all of the above”
because why should life be comfortable or easy?
But it’s clearly too much for a finite being
so all I know how to do is
 
(moment by moment)
 
strive to choose
    grace over judgement
        open over closed
           love  
                over  
                    fear.
 
 
.