Wolfgang's Sharebook 

THE INVITATION

by Oriah the Mountain Dreamer
It doesnt interest me what you do for a living. I wanna know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesnt interest me how old you are. I wanna know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dream for the adventure of being alive. It doesnt interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I wanna know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain. I wanna know if you can sit with pain mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I wanna 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, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
It doesnt interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I wanna 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 wanna know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I wanna know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon. Yes! It doesnt interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I wanna 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 doesnt interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesnt 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.
May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand. May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone.
May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and who have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than its form.
May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time in each day to see beauty and love in the world around you. Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard you may be more than compensated for in another. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future. May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience. May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself...