Poem: Excerpts from “Life Goes On” by Howard Thurman

During these turbulent times  we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on... The wisdom of life transcends our wisdoms; The purpose of life outlasts our purposes; The process of life cushions our processes.   The mass attack of disillusion and despair, distilled out of the collapse of hope, has so invaded our thoughts  that what we know to be true and valid  seems unreal and ephemeral...   Let us not be deceived. It is just as important as ever  to attend to the little graces  by which the dignity of our lives  is maintained and sustained.   Birds still sing; the stars continue to cast their gentle gleam over the desolation of the battlefields and the heart is still inspired  by the kind word and the gracious deed...   To drink in the beauty that is within reach, to clothe one’s life with simple deeds of kindness, to keep alive a sensitiveness  to the movement of the spirit of God in the quietness of the human heart  and in the workings of the human mind— this is as always the ultimate answer to the great deception.

 

~an excerpt from “Life Goes On” in Meditations of the Heart by Howard Thurman