“I dwell in possibility.” ~ Emily Dickinson
I love Dickinson. I love her writings. I love her history. She is a woman of mystery, character, and words. She was, in many ways, a hermit, living apart from the world for much of her life, especially her later life. Her words and prose were often unconventional to the times but had a lot to say. I think, in many ways, she dwelt in the world in verse more than in person. Her correspondence with several people has been written about many times.
Her poetry evoked vivid images, often from the very first line. Topics bloomed because of her presentation. A few examples might easily include: I taste a liquor never brewed, I felt a funeral, in my brain, “Hope” is the thing with feathers, Because I could not stop for death, and My life had stood – A loaded gun. Just reading those titles, one knew that he or she was in for a roller coaster of imagination and possibility.
Dickinson had a way of making possibility a reality. Perhaps it was because she often claimed that she dwelt in possibility. Because she did, she tried to make that possibility real. We, too, dwell in possibility. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have the possibility of eternal life. That possibility should make us a changed people, a different kind of people from that of the world.
When we speak, we should entice others to follow, just as Dickinson enticed people to follow her printed words in an attempt to savor every moment. Would that our lives would draw people closer to God!
FAITH ACTION: Don’t dwell on what might have been. Instead, set your sights on what might be and live so as to bring that future to life.