An online journal sharing my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, spirituality and asking deep questions.
What is it about
mws
a cloudless sky that
holds my attention?
Maybe it’s the blue
that melts from dark
to baby blue.
Maybe it’s the mystery
surrounding me,
holding me present.
Maybe it’s the sacredness
of nature unfolding
its beauty before me.
When people ask me what they should do,
Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness & Light
I tell them this: Love others as much as
you love yourself. If you find
that you don’t love some people as
much as you love yourself, then this
is because you’ve not yet learned
to love yourself fully.
For what you do not love in others
you’ve not yet learned to love in yourself;
work on this and you’ll begin to discover
what it means to love as God loves.
I’m enjoying this third book by Jon M. Sweeney and Mark S Burrows, Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness & Light. I use it in much the same way I used their first two books, where I read a poem at a time and sit with it. I almost always find one word or a short line that resonates with me. I may write one of the poems or line or two in my journal because it helps me to retain it in my old memory banks. And, hopefully somehow these words will take seed and therefore potentially change the world, or at least change how I react to it. I would add to make a comment about he last line of this poem. I’ve read somewhere that if the God you know only loves the people you love, then maybe that God is too small. Because that group of people we can love is most likely a rather small group in relation to the population of this world.
Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
May Oliver, The Gift
Earth and heaven both are still watching
though time is draining from the clock
and your walk, that was confident and quick,
has become slow.
So, be slow if you must, but let
the heart still play its true part.
Love still as once you loved, deeply
and without patience. Let God and the world
know you are grateful.
That the gift has been given.
I’m beginning to accept aging as more of a constant companion than someone to avoid. Nor do I live in a fantasy that it will go away. Aging now walks with me every day and walk at that slower pace. Some days I feel the grief of losing that walk that was confident and quick in my life, as Mary says in her poem. Yet, in this season of my life I am grateful for the gift of the life which has been given. What a gift it is to slow down, be present to life, fully experience and enjoy it. So my simple prayer this morning is that I may love as never before. The world needs more love! Why not let a spark begin with me.
I began a crock pot of 15 bean soup this morning. Well there are more than 15 beans in it, which will be ready about 1:00 pm if you wanna come over. May you have a wonderful day, filled with a heart of gratitude!
To pray you open your whole self
Joy Harjo
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
If you’re interested you can listen to Joy Harjo recite the Eagle Poem here.
watching the changes outside the window
ms
a witness to the sights and sounds of the fall season
as a cool wind rustles through the trees
red and yellow snowflakes flutter earthward
the trees offering their annual gifts along with
a promise of big white snowflakes soon to come
jotting words in my journal of what I see and hear
while including a list of todays simple gratitudes
so, I accept the gift of fall mornings and this mocha latte
Rain and wind predicted for today so the gold and yellow leaves will all be headed for Kansas by this evening. Thanks for stopping by.
In Praise of the Earth
Let us bless
The imagination of the Earth,
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.That we may awaken,
from To Bless the Space Between Us
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
by John O’Donohue
the day ends, and night begins
the night departs, and today arrives
the gift is offered, and a new day acceptedms