This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website.

Our source for this week is written by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, from her book 'Naked for Tea', and brought to us by Justin.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

That rock that we

have been pushing up

the hill—that one

that keeps rolling back down

and we keep pushing

back up—what if

we stopped? We are not

Sisyphus. This rock

is not a punishment.

It’s something we’ve chosen

to push. Who knows why.

I look at all the names

we once carved into

its sedimentary sides.

How important

I thought they were,

those names. How

I’ve clung to labels,

who’s right, who’s wrong,

how I’ve cared about

who’s pushed harder

and who’s been slack.

Now all I want

is to let the rock

roll back to where it belongs,

which is wherever it lands,

and you and I could,

imagine!, walk unencumbered,

all the way to the top and

walk and walk and never stop

except to discover what

our hands might do

if for once they were no longer

pushing.

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash