It is never too late..

It is never too late.
Let us go forth and live
into the very fullness of our being,
with love for ourselves and our world.

Pack nothing. Bring only your determination to serve
and your willingness to be free. Don't wait for the bread to rise.
Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing,
be ready to move at a moment's notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind -
fear, silence, submission.
Only surrender to the need of the time -
to love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Begin quickly, before you have time to sink back into old slavery.
Set out in the dark. I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire and I will be with you in the cloud.
I will give you dreams in the desert to guide you safely home
to that place you have not yet seen. ...

I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way
and to learn my ways more deeply....
Some of you will be so changed by weathers and wandering
that even your closest friends will have to learn
your features as though for the first time.

Some of you, will not change at all.
Some will be abandoned by your dearest loves
and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth
and feel abandoned by you. Some will find new friendship
in unlikely faces, and old friends as faithful and true
as the pillar of God's flame....

Sing songs as you go, and hold close together. You may at times
grow confused and lose your way.... Touch each other
and keep telling the stories..... Make maps as you go,
remembering the way back from before you were born....

So you will be only the first of many waves
of deliverance on these desert seas.
It is the first of many beginnings - your Paschaltide.
Remain true to this mystery.

Pass on the whole story..... Do not go back.
I am with you now and I am waiting for you.

~ Rumi