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Posts tagged ‘Reflection’

May 14

Rising Up Rooted

“If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

How we think of things
The work behind the work
The stories we tell
Plot twist
Draw into mystery rather than false certainty
Inquiry, attention, listening
A new story unfolding
Blank page to be written
Broaden, deepen, widen
Widening circles
Deep roots
New risings

“I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

Apr 13

Ashes to Palms, Darkness to Light

Blessing for Palm Sunday by Jan L. Richardson
“Blessed is the one
who comes to us
by the way of love
poured out with abandon.
Blessed is the one
who walks toward us
by the way of grace
that holds us fast.
Blessed is the one
who calls us to follow
in the way of blessing,
in the path of joy.”

“May the blessings released through your hands
Cause windows to open in darkened minds.

May the sufferings your calling brings
Be but winter before the spring.

May the companionship of your doubt
Restore what your beliefs leave out.

May the secret hungers of your heart
Harvest from emptiness its sacred fruit.

May your solitude be a voyage
Into the wilderness and wonder of God.

May your words have the prophetic edge
To enable the heart to hear itself.

May the silence where your calling dwells
Foster your freedom in all you do and feel.

May you find words full of divine warmth
To clothe the dying in the language of dawn.

May the slow light of the Eucharist
Be a sure shelter around your future.” – John O’Donohue

Walk, witness, partake.
Holy.
Sacred.
Awe.
Winter to spring.
Grief to grace.
Fear to love.
Death to Resurrection.
The invitation is to all, not the select few.
Though few enter.
Enter.

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.”― A.W. Tozer

Apr 8

Strength Lined with Tenderness

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.”― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Light in the dark.
Resilience for the long cut.
Anchored in hope.
Good trouble.
Strength lined with tenderness.
As Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, you do better.”
May that come soon.
In the meantime, kindness, connection, joy, laughter, beauty, spring.
Love, the journey and the destination.
Cast light in your corner of the world today.

“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education. ”― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

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 27

Springtime Advent

“Wonder. Go on and wonder.”― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

“Oremus

…Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies.

Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears.
Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us…
The world is big, and wide, and wild and wonderful and wicked,
and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable and full of meaning.

Oremus.
Let us pray.” – Pádraig Ó Tuama

To be here and now
Fully
In the mess, chaos and the beauty
The in betweens
Not winter but not spring
The advent time of spring
The brown sure to turn to green with April rain
Followed by the first bloom to break ground and burst into color
Anticipation. Reverence. Presence.
Springtime Christmas is coming soon
Outside and in
To walk with joy, delight, wonder
Especially in “the longer than we want” waiting seasons
The what’s next
The transitions that lead to transformation
Trust the process and go on and wonder in the meantime.

“The only place to begin is where I am, and whether by desire or disaster, I am here. My being here is not dependent on my recognition of the fact. I am here anyway. But it might help if I could learn to look around.”― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World

Mar 19

Daily Work of Delighting

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” – Rumi

“We have to fight them daily, lake fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.”― Etty Hillesum

Care without carrying it all
Pause to root, reset, redirect
Laughter to lighten the load
Wander to enter awe and wonder again and again
Nature to awaken the senses
Reverence to till gratitude
Kindness to soften the heart
A coat of joy to wear on the journey
May you find delight today
And let it in

“A desire to kneel down sometimes pulses through my body, or rather it is as if my body has been meant and made for the act of kneeling. Sometimes, in moments of deep gratitude, kneeling down becomes an overwhelming urge, head deeply bowed, hands before my face.”― Etty Hillesum

“Despite everything, life is full of beauty and meaning.”― Etty Hillesum, Lettres de westerbork

Mar 18

Color Your Day

“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

“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

Inquiry, curiosity, creativity
Allow, invite, express
Pause, reflection, reverence
Slow to witness
Look up to expanse
Clear the clutter
Create space
For peace, kindness, love
Color your day
Let light in, cast light out

“Love isn’t something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn’t a feeling, it is a practice.”―  Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving

 

Mar 16

Invisible Cloak

“Spirituality is about what we do about the fire inside of us, about how we channel our eros.”― Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing

BEANNACHT – Beautifully read by John O’Donohue, one of my favorite poets

“On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors, Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
In the curragh of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.” – John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

Peace
Be Still
Nourishment, clarity, fluency, protection
An invisible, profound, grounding, freeing, all encompassing, overwhelming place and space
At your feet
A blessing, cup overflowing, love, awe, contentment, ease
Right where you are
Within you awaiting your arrival
Peace
Be Still
Welcome home.

“But within ourselves we can experience a real difference between restlessness and solitude. What is that difference? It is the difference between living in freedom rather than compulsion; restfulness rather than restlessness; patience rather than impatience; inwardness rather than frenzied outwardness; altruism rather than greediness; authentic friendship rather than possessive clinging; and empathy rather than apathy.”― Ronald Rolheiser, The Restless Heart

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

Jan 25

One Precious Life

“Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” – Garrison Keillor

“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver

My sister-in-law’s Dad passed away on Monday
Looking through my photos to find some for the funeral next week
Going through, laughing, remembering, witnessing lives intertwined
The old neighborhood in winter, weddings, graduations, summers on water, gatherings
Joy and ease of youth, weathering of time, family and friends woven through it all
The important “stuff” of relationships, love, what makes a good life
So much more to say and reflect on
Truths not platitudes
But the short list…
Let go of your need to be right
Don’t demand that everyone agree or think your way
Don’t be an ass
And when you are one, apologize
Forgive, again and again
Go first, again and again
Lighten up
Stop being so angry about every damn thing, so easily offended
Let it go and focus on what’s most important, discard the rest
Laugh more, everyday, seriously
Hunt for beauty, wonder, joy
It’s hidden right in front of you
Be kind, gracious, generous, fun, unassuming, playful, silly
Keep learning, growing, changing to the very last breath
Resist growing old, stale, set in your ways
Life is in the ordinary, our job is to make it extraordinary with our attention, reverence and awe
No one gets out of here alive so live and love well
Every single day.

“Life is half spent before we know what it is.”― George Herbert

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