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Posts tagged ‘Nature’

Sep 2

Hidden, Front and Center

“Be still and listen to the voices that belong
to the stream banks and the trees and the open fields.
Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.”― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

“Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,

Suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,

and once again I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.”
― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Not for more or different.
But for gratitude and grace, senses ablaze.
To recognize and partake in blessings, beauty, light.
Already present in abundance.
On the ground I stand.
Prayer, poetry, proclamation.

“For everything that comes
is a gift, the meaning always
carried out of sight
to renew our whereabouts,
always a starting place.
And every gift is perfect
in its beginning, for it
is “from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights.”
― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Aug 27

Glance to Gaze of Wild Things

“Even the sun directs our gaze away from itself and to the life illumined by it.”― Eberhard Arnold, Salt and Light

“I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”― Wendell Berry

Thought
Not before or after
Here in this place
Glance to Gaze
Peace
Illumination
Imagination
Still waters
Grace flowing, overflowing.

“Run into peace.”― Meister Eckhart

Aug 25

Skybounding

“The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.”― Rumi

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Pull over.
Put down.
Look up.
Delight in this place and space.
Nowhere to be but here.

“Don’t keep searching for the truth; Just let go of your opinions.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Aug 16

Walking and Waking Up

“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”― Erol Ozan

“Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Walking and wandering
The path, the destination
Beauty the gift
Lost to be found.

“The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Aug 11

Harmony of Presence

“To the dark nights, the relief of the moon. The soft earth that forms to cradle the shape of my foot. To the crickets and the birds who sing our world into harmony. To the flowers that wish to sit on my windowsill, the trees that grow to reach the most sunlight. To the grass that sways and soothes. To the webs the spider tirelessly builds overnight only to be torn down in the daylight. To the life that pulses in exaltation below my feet every day that I am alive. To the portal it offers into a remembrance of our wholeness. To our source of unconditional love.”
― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

“In a world that lives like a fist
mercy is not more than waking
with your hands open.”― Mark Nepo

Open hands
Soft heart
Clear eyes
Attentive ears
Sacred, reverence, awe
Dance and delight
Harmony of presence
Altar of this day.

“Mysteriously, as elusive as it is, this moment–where the eye is what it sees, where the heart is what it feels–this moment shows us that what is real is sacred”― Mark Nepo

Aug 9

Magic and Wonder

“The magic of story. The wonder of words. The fertility of imagination.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

“Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-satiated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.”― Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers

Anticipation, hope, enthusiasm
Thoughts, words, actions
Forgiveness, releasing, open heart
Reflection, rest, restoration
Letting the past be done
Allowing the future to unfold
Fertile ground of this day
Planting seeds of attention, gratitude, encouragement, presense, praise.
Amazing amazing grace.
Joy chosen and given in real time.

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”― Kahlil Gibran

Aug 7

Joy Doing and Receiving

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.”― Walt Whitman

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Reclaim reverence, awe, wonder.
Keep it close.
Restore delight, frolic, play.
Weave it in the ordinary.
Release all that is not yours to carry.
Walk lightly with the rest.
Awake, aware, tending.
Sacred, holy ground of this day.

“Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Jul 25

Absorb the Wonder

“Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-satiated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.”― Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers

“I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.”― Etty Hillesum

Unplug
Shut down
Reboot
Sit in and with silence
Breathe in beauty
Soak up calm
Steep for flavor
Salt and light.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”― Anne Lamott

Jul 24

Slowly Born, Tending Peace

“To live is to be slowly born.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”― Etty Hillesum

Slowly born.
Each new day.
Intentions. Action. Inaction.
Observation and participation.
Deep breath.
Resting in pause.
Tending peace.

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”― Etty Hillesum

Jul 19

Pocketsized Joy

“Happiness compresses time, makes it dense and bright, pocketsized.”― Ann Patchett

“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”― Ann Patchett, State of Wonder

Love well today.
People, place, self.
Thoughts, words, actions.
Beauty, awe, wonder.
Scattered in abundance.
Fresh eyes, open heart, light spirit.
Moments spill into days into years.
Compress time.
Be present.
Love well today.

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”― Henry Drummond

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