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Posts from the ‘Summer’ Category

Sep 6

The Sun Remains

“Let the sun set, let the darkness fall, do not be afraid, as long as the sun does not set in your mind!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

“In a world where everything comes at a price, if you’re choosing to stay kind, if you’re choosing to value your dignity and your integrity, if your choosing to understand and embrace the smile of Solitude, if you’re choosing to employ your faculties to understand the real questions of Life, then you’re alive, much more alive than your human dreams could have made you feel. Because no matter what, when sunset hits the night, and the day comes to a close you know you’ve done your part, you know you have embraced one more day with gratitude and grace, with a formidable zeal for Life and an invincible spirit of human understanding that stands firm pillared with Hope and Faith. And then no matter how many voices shrill your mind, the echo of your soul would pierce through your heart and enlighten every inch of your mind, body and soul, and you would know how proud the Universe must be to see the faithfulness, the strength and resilience in your soul, the very mould that was shaped in the fire of the Stardust that shines upon the sky, sometimes becoming a beacon to others while sometimes lying beautifully hidden but always there, always alive.” ― Debatrayee Banerjee

As summer tumbles into fall slowly but surely.
As seasons change without fail.
The sun remains.
Rising and falling.
Inviting us to find and make meaning in each day.
Beginnings and endings again and again.
The middle, the makings of our life.
Stay kind, gentle, curious, and alive through it all.
A beacon, a light.

“The sun’s descent marks not just the end of another day, but a symbolic passage—a reminder that life, like the sun, moves in cycles, each ending giving birth to a new beginning.”― Ryan Gelpke, Peruvian Day

Sep 1

Propelled to the Present

“to follow God does not often mean traveling with certainty about where God will lead us. Rather, following God propels us to be present to the place where we are, for this is the very place where God shows up.”― Jan L. Richardson

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”― Rumi

The first day of September.
Labor Day weekend.
The mark of summer coming to a close soon.
Back to school.
Schedules filled with activity.
Keep the slowness of summer woven into the days ahead.
Create spaces, pockets of beauty, ease, joy.
Lessons in each season.
The classroom of life well lived.
Awake, aware, in the present moment, the flow.

“Everybody needs beauty…places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.”― John Muir

Aug 7

August Float

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”― Mary Oliver

“August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.” – Mary Oliver

Drink in these last days of summer.
Soak in the sun.
Build your wonder muscles.
Strengthen your awe senses.
These days are to be held.
And then released.
To open arms for what is next in due time.
Do not bypass these days.
Looking behind or ahead.
Float here.

“But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.”― Mary Oliver

Jul 2

Dog Days

“Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.” – C. Day Lewis

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”― Jack London

Summer.
An invitation daily to delight, play and wonder.
Dive in.
Accept the invitation.
Let these days in.
Live not merely exist.
The proper function of man and dog.
Hear and dance to the song of summer.

“Every day has a story to tell.
Can you hear it?”― Emmanuel Onimisi

“In summer, the song sings itself.” – William Carlos Williams

Jul 1

1 Comment

Happy Things

“Flowers are happy things.” – P. G. Wodehouse

“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Long cold winter, slow time.
Spring rains, transition time.
Early summer breezes, threshold time.
Lead us to July.
To fruition.
To bloom.
To colors we didn’t know existed.
The middle of summer.
Plenty to still enjoy, do, not do.
Sit, stay, savor and savor while it’s here.
No looking back nor ahead.
In today alone.
Time, patience, effort, new beginnings.
Happy things like flowers.

“A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” – Liberty Hyde Bailey

Jun 29

Pastures to Rest

“Even when there are a thousand things to do, cherish these unrushed moments. Make room in your heart for them. There will be many mountains to climb, but always make time to find the pastures where you can rest.”― Morgan Harper Nichols, All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living

“Were we really meant to rush with all abandon toward some earthly hilltop finish line? Or was God telling us something in those whispers to “be still,” that all along, it was necessary, to slow down, trust, and heal.”― Morgan Harper Nichols, All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living

Give yourself permission and space to rest.
Margins to play, to laugh, to explore.
Unrushed, slow easy time.
Every single day, weave wonder, awe and delight throughout.
Grace to immerse into the beauty and unfolding.
Pastures to rest.
To have joy take hold, to remain.

“And in those moments where the sun is setting and the house is quiet and you are weary from the day, may you know that there is grace for you in that space, and no amount of heaviness or loneliness can take that away. And because of that grace, you are free to slow down. You are free to breathe and rest, no matter the things not sorted out. There might be some mystery here and there might be longing, wondering, and waiting. But there will also be boundless peace that goes beyond any understanding, running wild like a river through everything, no matter how heavy these moments feel. So rest easy, when everything is approaching. Tomorrow is surely coming, but in the hours in between, you are free to rest till then.”― Morgan Harper Nichols

Jun 22

Summer Fun

“Listen, whatever you see and love-that’s where you are.”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

“The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play.”
― Unknown

The gifts of summer.
Long days.
Soft breeze as the sun sets, warmth lingering.
Sun blooming flowers and food.
Farmers markets soon to be brimming with variety, flavor and harvest.
Swimming, fishing, floating.
Slowness and frolic.
Fourth of July.
Long weekends.
Play, relaxation, respite.
Open the gifts of summer each day.
Sacred, holy space of color, calm and ease.

“To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays

Jun 1

Summer Days

“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.” – John Steinbeck

“I realized
June had never been
just a month

music…
never just a tremble
on my lips

warmth was never
merely a blanket.”
― Sanober Khan, A touch, a tear, a tempest

June.
Long summer days.
The beginning of many more to come.
Take in each day, they go fast.
Slow down.
Immerse fully into each day, ablaze with color, light and bloom.

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – Al Bernstein

May 20

Summertime Prelude

“Damn it all, you have been given a life on this beautiful planet! Get off your ass and do something!”― Nick Offerman, Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living

“Summertime, oh, summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade-proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweetfern and the juniper forever and ever . . . the cottages with their innocent and tranquil design, their tiny docks with the flagpole and the American flag floating against the white clouds in the blue sky, the little paths over the roots of the trees leading from camp to camp. This was the American family at play, escaping the city heat.”― E.B. White

Cool mornings melting into warm days.
Light earlier and later.
Spring preparing for summer’s turn.
Months to slow, partake and savor.
Pump the brakes.
A rhythm of grace and gratitude.
Color, fragrance, soul time.
Drop anchor and float.

“Our world continues on, faster and busier, and we are reminded that our souls were not created for the kind of speed to which we have grown accustomed. Thus, we are a people who are out of rhythm, a people with too much to do and not enough time to do it.”― Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life

Apr 14

Winter to Summer, Back to Spring

“The bird dares to break the shell, then the shell breaks open and the bird can fly openly. This is the simplest principle of success. You dream, you dare and and you fly.”― Israelmore Ayivor

“She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.”― Monique Duval

We’ve gone from 7+ feet of snow two weeks ago to 5 days of 80+ degrees.
Robins and red-winged blackbirds proclaim spring’s return, this week a slice of July.
Deep snow lingers still.
Temps dropping to 50s and rain tomorrow.
Snow on Sunday.
Back to spring 50s next week.
Seasons colliding, merging, dancing.
Polka. Waltz. Salsa.
Winter to summer and back again to spring.
Patterns of nature.
Up, down, all around.
Life on display.
Become part of the silence, the flow.
Your answer to what is right now, a resounding “Yes!”
Dream. Dare. Fly.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”― Robert Lynd

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