At the hermitage this weekend. Just want to share a couple of things that have attracted my attention this morning:

“Jesus and other mystical prophets testify that when it comes to wisdom, it is not the years that count, but the mileage — the roads we have traveled. Our unique lives vary widely in their breadth, scope, and depth, and older does not necessarily mean wiser. The latitude of any life is defined in less quantifiable dimensions: the intensity with which we have lived, our deliberate choices, the tragedies we have endures, the failings and disabilities we have integrated.” -Joe Grant, MDiv

And then there is always the incisive and insightful Mary Oliver:

Have I lived enough?
Have I loved enough?
Have I considered Right Action enough, have I
      come to any conclusions?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
Have I endured loneliness with grace?

I say this, or perhaps I am just thinking it.
      Actually, I probably think too much.

Then I step out into the garden,
where the gardener, who is said to be a simple man,
      is tending his children, the roses.
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Quote from Joe Grant, MDiv is from his essay, “Growing Down to Earth, Maturity in Meekness” published in Ripening, Oneing: An Alternative Orthodoxy. Vol. 1, No. 2; Center for Action and Contemplation, 2013.

Poem by Mary Oliver is from A Thousand Mornings: Poems. New York: The Penguin Press, 2012, p. 7.