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Posts from the ‘Summer’ Category

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

Sep 4

Summer-Fall

“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.” – Victor Hugo

“There is a time in the last few days of summer when the ripeness of autumn fills the air.” – Rudolfo Anaya

Cool mornings
Warm afternoons
Cool evenings
Summer not quite over
Fall knocking on the door
Flowers in bloom and drying up
On the cusp
The balance beam
The edge
Multiplicity, both and
Threshold, a foot on each side
Transition time, a familiar place of life
Do not surpass or rush by
Stay awake on the path to transformation

“Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, That stand upon the threshold of the new. – Edmund Waller

Aug 15

2 Comments

Afire

“The miracle is not to walk on water but on the earth. —Thich Nhat Hanh”

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

As summer moves into its third act, stay with it all of the way through to the end rather than lament it’s over.
Take in the late blooming flowers in shapes and colors unseen.
Sunrises and sunsets, and each moment in between.
Fall with harvest bounty will enter on cue, with gifts of its own.
In the meantime, do not dismiss the last act.
Earth is crammed with heaven indeed when you live into new ways of thinking.
Breath and drink it all in.

“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”― Richard Rohr

Jun 3

Long Summer Days

“Aaah, summer – that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It’s a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends.” – Darell Hammond

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James

Vibrant colors, sun lingering, soft breeze.
Days when glory shows its face in bloom.
Play, wander, watch.
Somersaults and cartwheels.
Crisp vegetables, sweet fruit.
Soak in these days.
No place to be but here.
In the balm of long summer days.
Do not let them pass you by.

“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.” – Jenny Uglow

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

Jun 1

June

flower

“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.” – Aldo Leopold

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

Pause.
Pull over.
Rest awhile.
The beginning of summer.
The season that never goes slow.
So we must slow to steep in it like a tea bag.
Soaking up flavor and essence.
Look around, walk slowly, breathe deeply.
June, the beginning of summer glory.
Be present and awake for all of it.
Overwhelmed by color, held by the sun, in praise of earth coming alive.
Inviting us to do the same.

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” – Gertrude Jekyll

Aug 31

Reverence Time

“By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.” – Helen Hunt Jackson

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”― Albert Camus

As summer completes her third act and fall prepares to enter center stage, be open to seek and see the gifts woven in each season, in transition, in endings and in beginnings. Each day is a gift, open and enjoy the moments you are in.

Gratitude harvests beauty in each season.

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”― Yoko Ono

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