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Nov 12

Un-Sameness

“No mud, no lotus” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“Blessed are you, dear one, when the world around you has changed.
Everything is different now,
your body, your age, your relationships, your job, your faith.

The things that once brought you joy.
The way you existed in the world.
The people you love and trust and rely on.

Things have changed and it would be silly to imagine you haven’t changed with them.
You are not who you once were.

Bless that old self,
they did such a good job with what they knew.
They made you who you were,
all the mistakes and heartbreak and naiveté and courage.

And blessed are who you are now,
you who aren’t pretending things are the same,
who continue to grow and stretch and show up to your life as it really is:
wholehearted, vulnerable, maybe a little afraid.
So blessed are we, the changed.” – Kate Bowler

Never done, finished
Keep going, growing
Changing, blooming
Pruning, weeding, seeding
Un-sameness, transformation, fruition
Becoming
The destination and the journey.

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” — John C. Maxwell

Nov 11

Cathedrals and Altars of Presence

“I think we’re all little cathedrals of contradiction. Terrifying darkness and shocking beauty coexist in everyone, and God doesn’t wait for us to clean out all the bad before celebrating the good. It’s scandalous, really—that kind of love.” – Bethany Joy Lenz

“On any given day, we will feel weary and rested. Satisfied and demanding. Grateful and scared. Life will keep throwing lemons, but that’s just one more reason to keep butter in the fridge. It’s the best. It’s the worst. It’s lemon curd.” —Shannan Martin, Counterweights

In the struggle
In the wondering
In the worrying
In the predicting, assuming, judging
In living in yesterdays, rearview mirror
In living in tomorrows, too far out
In regrets, resentments, grief
In things not going as planned
In the someday whens
In all of the ins and outs
Life beats, blooms, bursts
Grace resides, tends, invites
Beauty, delight, joy shout for your attention, noticing, partaking
In the now, on the sacred ground of today
Abundant scandalous love, with a side of lemon curd
Seek, find, cast light

“Abundance doesn’t need certainty to exist.” – Tracey Gee

Nov 10

Spacious Unfolding

“All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things of this world-not with money and titles, horses and carriages, but with bright and happy thoughts, contentment and peace of mind.”― John Lubbock

“Make your choice, adventurous Stranger,
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

Friction and resistance
Release and flow
Rush and persistence
Calm and slow
The dance
Seasons shifting
Rhythm and grace
Inquiry and curiosity
Wonder and awe
Spacious unfolding.

“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Nov 9

Best, Simple, Things

“You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!

“Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Eyes open
Heart light
Spirit alive
Joy woven in the ordinary, silly, simple, fun
Smile spilling into laughter
Carbonate, anticipate, participate
Holy ground

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.”― Anne Lamott

Nov 8

Golden Clasp

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week.”― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“I don’t want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don’t take out till the day comes around again; I want something to see and feel and live day by day.”― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

To set aside, put down
Rest, reflect, renew
Pause and praise
Sacred ground
Sunday peace
Weave it through the week

“Sunday, the day for the language of leisure.”― Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher

Nov 7

Garden Work

“When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. Beauty is mysterious, a slow presence who waits for the ready, expectant heart.” – John O’Donohue

“I’m tending to my garden, I’m making it my place,
Where I can spend my moments, in this nurturing space.
I too, am like a flower, needing sunshine and rain,
With gentle hands that guide me, I can flourish once again.

With every season changing, the blooms may come and go,
Yet in the quiet shadows, there’s beauty still to show.
For in the depths of winter, when all seems cold and bare,
New dreams begin their stirring, bringing hope beyond despair.

So as I sow my blessings, and patiently I wait,
I learn to trust the timing, and embrace my natural fate.
For reaching towards the sunlight, I find my truest spark,
In this garden of my making, I can leave my mark” – C.E. Coombes

Expectancy
Anticipation
Enthusiasm
Delight
Enchantment
Hope
Joy
Laughter
Light
Kindness
Generosity
Abundance
Reverence
Wonder

In the nurturing, tending to your garden
These are the fruits of labor, garden work
Tend, nurture, plant
Standing on sacred ground.

“When we devote some calm time to the heart and come off the treadmill of stress and distraction we can enter into the beauty within.  Each of us can prepare for that inner arrival: where ‘night holds sway’ and the inner forest becomes ‘free of strangers’.” – John O’Donohue

Nov 6

Off We Go, On to This Day

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”― Theodore Roosevelt

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

In the daily ordinary
In showing up
In listening
In kindness, laughter, play
In ups and downs
In plenty and scarcity
In the middle, mix, mess
Potholes, detours, delays
Celebrations, milestones, progress
Create, recreate, unlearn, learn
Ease up, slow down, look around
Lighten up
Be present where you are
May you offer and find joy, delight, hope
Wherever the path leads today.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”― George Bernard Shaw

Nov 5

Dwelling Spaces

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Run with the stars
Dance with delight
Letting up and go
Making space for the mystery and unkown
Releasing the familiar and worn
To be present and in conversation with life
Dwell and root
Gratitude, grace, joy
Find your strength and power here.

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Nov 4

Color of Thoughts

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

On today’s path
May colors blaze
Fresh air crisp, deep breath
Light stream through thoughts, words, deeds
Encouragement, kindness, grace
Love well.

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Nov 3

Scatter Joy, Bloom Love

“Small wins little things look for the beauty in everything.”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit

“JOY CHOSE YOU Joy does not arrive with a fanfare on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life joy sneaks in as you pour a cup of coffee watching the sun hit your favourite tree just right and you usher joy away because you are not ready for her your house is not as it should be for such a distinguished guest but joy, you see cares nothing for your messy home or your bank balance or your waistline joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life that’s how joy works you cannot truly invite her you can only be ready when she appears and hug her with meaning because in this very moment joy chose you.”― Donna Ashworth, Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days

Thoughts of hope
Words of encouragement
Acts of kindness
Not for others or institutions to do
Small but mighty, adding up
Daily devotion
Showing up
No advice, mere presence
In the messy, flawed, imperfection
Joy to be found
Look longer
Offer it first, second, third
Cast light.

“Follow the flawed, the real, the messy. Follow the women who say it like it is, no filter, no glossing, no bull. Follow those people who accept themselves, and you, as you are. And leave the rest to edit their lives to perfection,”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit

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