Attachment

Isn't it amazing sometimes how we can become identified with certain things? After prayer this morning, I just thoroughly enjoyed sipping coffee and solving the USA TODAY crossword puzzle. This routine got me thinking about how each of us has to pick and choose between how we spend our time and where we give our attention. But then, it is not always a choice. Sometimes it's a habit, or perhaps even a helpless obsession. Whatever the case at the moment, our attachments tend to change as life's experiences accumulate. Each of us is in a process of emerging, and at this point in mine, I am so very much enjoying the grandfathering of three little girls. I've tried to express this phenomenon in my poem, "Attachment". I hope you enjoy reading it and I would love to respond to whatever comment the poem may engender in you.

Original attachment is the umbilical cord;
but that gets severed by the deliverer's sword.

The clinging next is to the mother's breast;
for continuing nourishment and all the rest.

After weaning there's dependence for staying alive;
and bonding comes as a natural drive.

At this point there comes a fork in the flow;
the bonding should stay, but dependence must go.

If not, an unhealthy orientation can arise;
consequences of which can later be a surprise.

Secure attachment helps a person mature;
whereas distorted ones render you insecure.

Attachments of this ilk carry a burden of sorrow;
and project complications from today to tomorrow.

Corrective action can eventually be taken;
but not without one's core to be shaken.

A symptom of trust is calm internal modulation;
as well as handling externals with good moderation.

So do what you can to help mothers of babies
make attachment secure and not about maybes.

The final test of the healthy and secure attachment
is the capacity of a person for holy detachment.