Soul-Fed Mama: There Are Hundreds Of Ways To Kiss The Ground

“Today, like every other day, we wake up emptyand frightened. Don’t open the door to the studyand begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

~ Rumi

Here are 10 ways I kiss the ground:When I dig into the soil, make room for roots of tiny plants, stretch my back and feel the dirt under my fingernails and the sun on my head.When I stand in the coop door and scatter handfuls of sweet corn and seeds and listen to the clucking song of happy hens.When I’m exhausted and have urgent work to do and it is Daddy’s turn for bedtime but she’s crying, “Mama, Mama,” in that way I know is real, and I gather her into my arms and settle in the rocking chair and fit her body back into mine just like she grew there.When I uncap the paints and lose myself in color and texture.When I follow the blue ink of my pen across the page without knowing where it is going.When I take the time to sit and draw something, slow down enough to learn the edge and shadow of its every shape, burning it into my memory.When I travel to new places, far or near, and push myself out of my comfortable rhythm.When I succumb to the love of the pushy boy cat and instead of shoving him off my lap for the fifth time, I scratch him on both sides of his jaw just the way he likes best.When I settle my girl into my lap or into the circle of my arm and read book after book after book until the stack threatens to topple back onto us.When I give my man my full attention while he tells me about the paths his mind has wandered today or the new but esoteric topic he’s been learning about this week. [Tweet "Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. ~ Rumi"]Your turn: Tell me three ways you kiss the ground.*This post was inspired by this one by Shawn Fink as part of her Project 52 Series. Read more about this beautiful project here. 

This post is part of the 31-day Soul-Fed Mama series. Find the rest of this series here.