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Posts tagged ‘Peace’

Jun 19

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Lingering Gaze

“When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.” – William Blake

“In a world myriad as ours, the gaze is a singular act: to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly.”― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

May you be overwhelmed and embraced with the fullness of today.
Lingering in the summer sun.
Slowing to see bounty and abundance in reach.
A singular act.
The drains of heaven.
At our feet.
Walk softly on this holy sacred ground.
Lighter.
With ease, gratitude and in amazement.

“Stars. Or rather, the drains of heaven – waiting. Little holes. Little centuries opening just enough for us to slip through.”― Ocean Vuong, Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Jun 13

Dayspring

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”― Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Let Him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.”― Gerard Manley Hopkins

Enter the grandeur of summer, of life beyond seasons and circumstance.
A well, a river, a current.
Surrounded and overtaken by color, light and fragrance.
Silent in awe and wonder, steeped in praise.
A dayspring, a pasture, wide-open spaces of blessings abound.

“ELECTED Silence, sing to me
And beat upon my whorlèd ear,
Pipe me to pastures still and be
The music that I care to hear.”
― Gerard Manley Hopkins, Poems and Prose

Jun 11

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Precious, Rare, Awake

“Who’s to say the effort to be real isn’t the beginning of wings?” – Mark Nepo

“But today you are precious and rare and awake. It ushers us into grateful living. It makes hesitation useless.” – Mark Nepo

Anchor in awareness.
The weight of this moment.
Delight in beauty abound.
Within and around.
Go easy.
Walk in love.
Peace, joy and wings to you.
The light of day.
For revealing and reveling.

“Over time, staying real becomes the work of keeping our actions in the world connected to the truth of our inner being, allowing our True Self to see the light of day.― Mark Nepo

Jun 4

Spaciousness

“Salvation is a word for the divine spaciousness that comes to human beings in all the tight places where their lives are at risk, regardless of how they got there or whether they know God’s name. Sometimes it comes as an extended human hand and sometimes as a bolt from the blue, but either way it opens a door in what looked for all the world like a wall. This is the way of life, and God alone knows how it works.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

May you feel the touch, the embrace, the anchoring of the divine already present
Kneel at the altars that are real rather than false ones we fall too readily on
Notice the sacred and holiness in the ordinary moments of each and every single day
Hidden in plain sight, in reach, awaiting our attention and care
Walls into doors
Light amidst darkness
Blue lingering with clouds
Thick with possibility
Ripe for the receiving, taking and giving
Abundant and available.

“Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

May 30

Remember and Plant Peace

“We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13

On Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who have died while serving in the military, making the ultimate sacrifice for others, for freedom. To go beyond self into the rocky ground of other, the sacred land of service.

We all want to be remembered, to be seen. Heroes and ordinary humans. Be grateful for those who rise above self to give to others. Honor by following their lead in everyday service to others through kindness, generosity and love. That is how we can best serve and honor those who have given so much not only for their friends but for all.

Sojourn the daily path with acts of love. Plant seeds of peace wherever you pass.

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” – St. Ambrose

May 25

Space Within

“If you create any open space within yourself, love will fill it.” – Deepak Chopra

“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.” – Ralph Marston

Whether by crowbar or happenstance, may you create space in this day to allow wonder, light, love to enter and take root.
Unfold your power to choose, respond, create, allow new and fresh.
Let the old fall away.
Give meaning to moments, depth to life.
Space within.

“There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.” – Erich Fromm

May 20

Wake into Life

“God is best known in not knowing him.” – Saint Augustine

“The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

May you wake into life and see God woven in each moment, hidden in the ordinary.
Awaiting your arrival, offering joy, peace and grace.
A mystery, undefinable, expansive, beyond imagination.
Slow down, experience and enjoy the journey.

“The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.” – Saint Teresa of Avila

May 16

In the Unknowing, Knowing

“The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” – Thomas Merton

“What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous.” – Thomas Merton

Calculator and canvas;
Art and science;
Sky and spec;
Knowing and mystery;
Boundary and wide open field;
A moment and forever;
Shadow and light;
Oasis and desert;
Deep beyond surface;
Found in silence, inquiry, observation, praise, awe, wonder;
Discernment and clarity;
Imperfection and incompleteness;
Sacred and holy;
Beyond the façade, recipes, rules, assumptions, expections;
Unbound and calling you home to self, true self;
Pieces to patterns;
Unfinished and unexplainable;
All of this and more;
Not caught, rather harnessed and embraced;
Intuition the map;
Homecoming the destination;
Transformation and unfolding.

“The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God’s mercy to me.” – Thomas Merton

May 12

Storms

“There is peace even in the storm.”― Vincent van Gogh

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather

The first spring storm swept in last night.
Thick clouds, lightning breaking through.
70 mile an hour winds.
Horizontal rain.
Hail.
Sirens to warn.
Nature has her way, untouched by our control or consternation.
Nothing to do but take shelter.
Observing, waiting, watching.
In both the external and internal storms, taking shelter is often the only thing to do.
Present to what is.
Laying down worry.
Evidence from the past that we’ve made it through before.
No guarantees but hopeful the same.
Calm this morning.
Greener grass, budding trees.
May you weather the storms, new on the other side.

“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

May 2

Kindness

“People are not problems to be solved. They are mysteries to be explored.” – Eugene H. Peterson

Go into the world (the next room, the coffee shop, traffic, work) and be kind first.
No preconceptions, no judgments, no assumptions.
Give criticism a time out.
Fresh eyes, rapt attention, a listening heart.
Beyond self into communion, connection, love.
Consider alternatives, opposites, upside downs.
Twists, turns, mystery, unknowing.
Unfolding, flowing, darkness, greys, brilliant colors, light.
Choose learning and expanding over certainty and being “right.”
Scatter joy and hope, leave peace to take root and bloom.
Be kind. Repeat.

“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” — Scott Adams

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