as well as a poet and this is his wisdom:
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache
for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't
interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a
fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't
interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have
touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's
betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I
want to know if you can sit with the pain, mine and your own, without moving
to hide it, fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine
and your own, if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the
tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be
realistic, or to remember the limitation of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to
know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the
accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you
can be faithful and therefore trustworthy when it's not pretty every day, and
if you can source your life from God's presence. I want to know if you can
live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and
shout to the sliver of the moon, "YES"! I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do
what needs to be done for the children.
t doesn't interest me who you are, or how you came to be here. I want to know
if you can stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It
doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you've studied. I want to know
what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if
you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in
the empty moments.