Offered by Marie McGuigan
Our beautiful 14th offering comes from a beautiful poet Julia Fehrenbacher. Marie has selected the poem Hold Out Your Hand to record and reflect upon. You can read the poem here or you can listen to the YouTube clip below.
Give yourself plenty of time to sit back and read or listen.
Poem
Hold Out Your Hand
Let’s forget the world for a while
fall back and back
into the hush and holy
of now
are you listening? This breath
invites you
to write the first word
of your new story
your new story begins with this:
You matter.
You are needed—empty
and naked
willing to say yes
and yes and yes.
Do you see
the sun shines, day after day
whether you have faith
or not
the sparrows continue
to sing their song
even when you forget to sing
yours
stop asking: Am I good enough?
Ask only: Am I showing up with love?
Life is not a straight line
it’s a downpour of gifts, please—
hold out your hand
by Julia Fehrenbacher
Reflection
Transcribed from the reflection on the recording below
So I am just going to rest into my whole felt sense of the whole of the poem and the parts that resonated as I read especially the first
Let’s forget the world for a while
fall back and back
into the hush and holy
of now
I really resonate with the words hush and hold of now, something about that first stanza helps me to settle into the whole of me just now, back and back into the hush and holy of now. Its like what I do or how I be, how I am as I take time to go quite inside and focus, paying that special attention to that whole sense of something inside. And something about nature and
the sun shines day after day
whether you have faith or not, t
he sparrow continue to sing their song
even when you forget to sing
yours
... I'm just going to sit with that....even when you forget to sing yours....and I just notice deeper breaths and a wider sense of space inside connecting me to something I love about the birds...the birds singing....the birds out in my back garden....I love the sound....its like they greet each other in the mornings.. 6am and they say goodnight at night.....something in my body just about the rhythm of the birds and nature...something about even when you forget to sing yours.....something about stepping in closer to my own song and just waiting for my body felt sense of... waiting for my own song......just deeper breaths... more space.....its that curiosity about a word, phrase or an image that might fit my own song...and there is something about the word forget ....forgetting my own song my own rhythm ...my own beauty...and then something about the title of the song and the line am I showing up with love?...Hold out your hand....and the phrase that comes in giving and receiving...reciprocity...those words giving and receiving, holding out my hand waiting to receive...am I showing up with love...giving...a few more deep breaths and my whole felt sense feels something like a whole...yeah.. giving and receiving...Its enjoying the poem, sensing into the poem, receiving the poem...what it gives, what it brings to me and how I show up here just now...into the hush and hold of now...and that feels complete for now....it really resonates with the focusing language
Let’s forget the world for a while
fall back and back
into the hush and holy
of now
Feels like a really gentle place to finish and complete.
So I invite you to take time to listen to the poem and the recording taking the time to sit, noticing your whole felt sense with whatever resonates for you and how you are in the world right now
Marie McGuigan
May 2025
