My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Everything you see has its roots
Rumi
In the unseen world.
The forms may change
Yet the essence remains the same.
Every wondrous site will vanish,
Every sweet word will fade,
But do not be disheartened,
The Source they come from is Eternal,
Growing, branching out,
Giving new life and new joy.
Why do you weep?
That source is within you
And this whole world
Is springing up from it.
I stand in the midst of creation’s wheel
Steven Charleston
And watch in wonder the quiet majesty of its turning.
We are in the care of a love without limit or definition
Under the protection of a love that never looks away.
It is Monday morning and we have fresh snow on the ground, clear blue skies and sunshine. I am grateful to be a witness to this beautiful winter wonderland. Today I am missing my mother who would have been 92 today. I also can say I miss her with a love that is without limits. Not sure I would have said that as a teenager which makes me grateful for my growing maturity. I’m also grateful for the belief that there is a caring love (and I speak of love as an action word, not a noun) that never looks away. I have experienced such love in family, friends and nature. So, I pray today for the gift of sharing with a love I’ve experienced which is without limits and never looks away.
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
Mary Oliver
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
This past weekend I shot some senior portraits in Red Feather Lakes. While I was there I made another trip on Elf Lane. As I got out and walked among all the elfs and assorted other characters I suddenly, but not unexpectedly, experienced joy. Thought this little frog and princess needed to have their photo taken.
Photography by nature is spiritual considering, it comes from the darkness to show the light.
Kevin Russo
I was told the other day by someone that they no longer look my sunrise images. However, I’ve come to know that the beginning of a new day offers a unique sunrise, there is no other like it, and if I’m present to it then it’s another opportunity to live one more day. So for me a sunrise is a sacred moment, where we move from darkness to light. In a Mary Oliver poem called The Swan she writes, Of course the path to heaven doesn’t lie in flat miles. It’s in the imagination with which you perceive this world, and the gestures with which you honor it. My presence and the photographs I capture is my act of receiving this morning’s predawn sky and is my gesture to honor the world. I will probably keep doing that to my last breath.
I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.
Mary Oliver
I’m rather new to poetry, in both reading and writing. Primarily because I did not understand it, nor did I put the effort into learning what it was about and what it could teach me. It just wasn’t time yet in my life. Now it is. Some of that slow seduction could be spending more quality time in the natural world, or as Mary suggests the temple. I like how Maria Popova says it here. Having said that I want to thank all of you who read and maybe even understand my attempts at writing poetry. But not today!
then… turning the corner I caught
mws
a glimpse of the northeast sky
with its soft pink delicate clouds
I had to stop, couldn’t refuse the gift
then… opening my journal, I began listening
with my own prayer; of writing, of being present
and then the meadowlark began to sing or pray
I had to listen, couldn’t refuse the gift
then… off to meet Eric for coffee
a full day of gifts; the gift of sunrise,
the gift of his life, the gift of my life,
and the gift of the new day
Another morning and I wake with thirst
Mary Oliver
for the goodness I do not have. I walk
out to the pond and all the way God has
given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
I was never a quick scholar but sulked
and hunched over my books past the hour
and the bell; grant me, in your mercy,
a little more time. Love for the earth
and love for you are having such a long
conversation in my heart. Who knows what
will finally happen or where I will be sent,
yet already I have given a great many things
away, expecting to be told to pack nothing,
except the prayers which, with this thirst,
I am slowly learning.
The great Way is easy,
Tao Te Ching – Verse 53
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.
When rich speculators prosper
While farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn-
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.