On Falling

"Antaeus would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches and remained invincible as long as he remained in contact with his mother, the earth. As Greek wrestling, like its modern equivalent, typically attempted to force opponents to the ground, he always won, killing his opponents."

On Falling

Says one teacher: where you stumble and fall,
there you'll find gold.
Says another: first there's the fall
and then we recover from the fall.
Both are the mercy of God.

And we can't forget Antaeus,
legendary wrestler and son of Terra Mater,
a fellow whose strength was renewed
whenever it happened, for every time he fell
(hurled to the ground by some opponent)
he'd land right in his mother's arms.

Teddy Macker, 'This World'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antaeus

Thanks, K. 

Faith

Storm on Galilee

What's instructive is not
That he laid down the sea
But that he seemed so unharassed
By the possibility of complete
And utter catastrophe. Yes
It could all fall apart, he seemed to say;
Yes, the storm could turn your little ship
Into a sudden coffin- yes. Faith, he told us then,
Is not trusting things will one day be better.

Faith is trusting things could never be better. No matter what.

Teddy Macker, 'This World'

Thanks, K.

Falling, Flying

The Mosquito Among the Raindrops

The mosquito among the raindrops...
It's equivalent to getting hit, says the scientist,
By a falling school bus. And hit every twenty seconds.

And the mosquito lives.

In fact, she doesn't even try to avoid the drops.
No zigzagging, no ducking. No hiding under eaves.

How does she do it?
No resistance to force.

She hitches a ride on the blow,
A stowaway on that which brings her down.

She becomes 'one with the drop,'
Knowing that to fly again
She must fall.

Teddy Macker, 'This World'

Thanks, K.

What was said

This is what Jesus said
to the deaf man: Ephphatha.

Be opened. This is what Jesus said.

This is what a painter said of love:
he said, Love is paying attention.
This is what the painter said.

Another, I forget who, said,
You can trust the present. That
is what she said. And as for faith,
one says, It is a verb, another says,

It is resting in the gamble, while for another
it is traveling miles and days
to that great and final lion
to be consumed — what an honor! —
consumed to the very bones.

Teddy Macker, This World, 2015

Ephphatha: http://biblehub.com/topical/e/ephphatha.htm