Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Reflection’ Category

Feb 28

Little Pocket of Quiet

“Suppose you meet me in the woods.”― Eudora Welty

“May rest open itself to you,
a little pocket of quiet,
because your strength is running on empty.
May you be sheltered from every fear,
whether it’s creeping up behind you
or what your imagination keeps inventing.
May your hummingbird heart slow—
just enough to catch its breath.
May any storm be turned aside,
leaving this quiet place untouched—
In a quiet so impossibly soft,
may you feel held—
not by perfection,
not by productivity,
but simply that you are enough,
just as you are.” – Kate Bowler

Pocket of quiet
Corner of beauty
Deep time, wandering, without a checklist
Recess for play and wonder, peace
In your being, not your doing, treasure
More than enough, overflowing and abundant
Just as you are
Becoming, unfolding, flourishing
Seeds root and bloom in the pause.

“What’s your best discovery?” asked the mole.

“That I’m enough as I am,” said the boy.”
― Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Dec 10

Shapes of Water

“my dear,
we are all made of water.
it’s okay to rage. sometimes
it’s okay to rest. to recede.”
― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos

“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Moving effortlessly through, over, around rocks
Frozen, suspended in air
Shape and form
Rhythm and ease
Current of flowing waters
Peace, beauty, stillness
Invitation of icicles

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” – Lao Tzu

Oct 28

The Doing of Undoing

“If you don’t know what to do next take the oath that will enhance your soul and erase your ego, & from the quiet space inside yourself, you will know what to do.”― Nikki Rowe

“The timeline of your life is not a straight line, after all; it is a series of ebbs and flows, backs and forths, heres and theres. You are nowhere and everywhere all at once, and that means that most of the time, the best you can do is be present to the moment, be open to the unlearning and the learning, and trust that you’re doing the work of Love.”― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Living Resistance

Rolling
Rhythm
Unraveled
Ebb
Flow
Unbound
Untangled
Unwound
Relax
Release
Recover
Remake
Renew
Refresh
Awe, wonder, reverence, ease
Being, unbeing
Learning, unlearning
The doing of undoing.

“Identity does not come to us without journey, because to learn who we are means we face difficult truths in our own lives and imagine what life might look like as those truths work themselves out inside of us.”― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native

Aug 19

Trust the Water

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”― Alan Wilson Watts

“The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”― Alan Wilson Watts

What’s mine to do?
What’s mine not to do?
To carry or leave by the wayside
To pay attention to or tune out
Awake in this moment
Listening
Not only for the answers
But for the questions too
Mostly for mere being, witnessing
Conscious of beauty beyond questions and answers, solving and performing
Trusting the water, buoyancy of presence
Harmonies of magnificence and glory

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”― Alan Wilson Watts

Aug 16

Light, Color, Beauty of Things

“Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her.”― William Wordsworth

“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”― William Wordsworth

Get out of your head
Into nature
Curiosity
Inquiry
Reflection
Being rather than doing
Nowhere to be but here
Fully present in the present
Into the light, color and beauty of things.

“Habit rules the unreflecting herd.”― William Wordsworth

Jun 17

Daily Work of Love

“Be calm. God awaits you at the door.”― Gabriel García Márquez

“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”― Lao Tzu

Grief, joy, laughter, tears, compassion, kindness, exhausted, enthusiastic, generosity, rejection, empathy, acceptance, detachment, grace, hopeful.
All of it.
May I move through, experience all of it.
To cry with a friend or stranger.
To listen and not solve.
To be calm in the storms.
Peace in chaos.
Quiet in noise.
Salt and light.
Hands and feet.
Do the work.
The daily work of love.
Knowing and trusting God is doing his work through each and all of us.

“Stillness is the wellspring of insight.”― Aloo Denish Obiero

May 27

Chasing Slow

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”― Simone Weil

“there isn’t enough of anything
as long as we live. But at intervals
a sweetness appears and, given a chance
prevails.”― Raymond Carver, Ultramarine: Poems

Summer unfolding.
A bloom with color.
Light lingering, sauntering.
A sweetness appears.
Let it prevail.
Chase slow.
Capture savor.
Embrace delight.

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”― Simone Weil

May 18

Abide. Delight. Dwell

“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”― W.H. Auden, New Year Letter

“You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come, to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.”
– John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

Abide. Delight. Dwell.
Silence of stone.
Habit of twilight.
Brightness of day.
Abide. Delight. Dwell.

“Jesus doesn’t participate in the rat race. He’s into the slower rhythms of life, like abiding, delighting, and dwelling—all words that require us to trust Him with our place and our pace.”― Lysa TerKeurst, Uninvited

Apr 5

However Briefly

“Deep listening is an act of surrender. We risk being changed by what we hear.”― Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

“Breathe like a fallen leaf and think of nothing. Just breathe and let your heart and mind be carried, however briefly, by the spirit you can’t quite see.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

However briefly.
Pause.
Reflect
Plant.
Praise.
Bloom.
Pilgrimage of transformation.

“To journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present in the Life You Have

Mar 13

Bear Fruit, Cast Light

“That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality–your soul, if you will–is as bright and shining as any that has ever been….Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.”― George Saunders

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.”― Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

Space, margins, pause, reflection
Anchors, roots, foundations
Luminosity within
Home
Take the journey daily
Bear fruit, cast light

“Leisure, it must be remembered, is not a Sunday afternoon idyll, but the preserve of freedom, of education and culture, and of that undiminished humanity which views the world as a whole.”― Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

« Older Entries