Unexpected words, Day 31

- Today I received a an unexpected piece of mail filled with the kindest words. It reminded me that even the smallest, most insignificant acts of kindness can fill the soul of another and add immeasurable light to one's day. May we offer our kindness freely. May we give encouragement extravagantly. May we love in simple words and actions.

What beauty is for, Day 30

The Swan

Mary Oliver

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?

Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -

An armful of white blossoms,

A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned

into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,

Biting the air with its black beak?

Did you hear it, fluting and whistling

A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall

Knifing down the black ledges?

And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -

A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet

Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?

And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?

And have you changed your life?

Blessing the mothers, Day 15

Blessing the Mothers

by: Jan Richardson 

Who are our
first sanctuary.

Who fashion
a space of blessing
with their own being:

with the belly
the bone and
the blood

or,
if not with these,
then with the
durable heart
that offers itself
to break
and grow wide,
to gather itself
around another
as refuge,
as home.

Who lean into
the wonder and terror
of loving what
they can hold
but cannot contain.

Who remain
in some part of themselves
always awake,
a corner of consciousness
keeping perpetual vigil.

Who know
that the story
is what endures
is what binds us
is what runs deeper
even than blood

and so they spin them
in celebration
of what abides
and benediction
on what remains:

a simple gladness
that latches onto us
and graces us
on our way.

With a little help from my friends, Day 14

Planning my ordination service has been more emotionally charged than I originally anticipated. There are quite a few reasons for this that I will not explain in the moment. I knew I truly needed to finish things up today and I sat down to do just that while Josiah napped. I looked at my computer screen for far too long working and thinking and envisioning. I would add a song and then take it away. I would re-read a scripture reading that I planned to use and feel uncertain.  I simply could not get over the gnawing, uneasy feeling - something wasn't quite right, I just couldn't put my finger on what I was sensing. Finally I shot off a few texts to different friends. Within the next hour I had several conversations via text, email and phone - we seriously had it all covered. At the end of these conversations, everything had fallen into place. One friend/colleague identified the problem immediately. Once the problem was identified, it was much easier for all the other pieces to fall into place.

If I can offer one word today: reach out. No matter how self-sufficient you believe yourself to be, we need one another. We are not alone.

Grace in chocolate, Day 13

Today was the type of day that leaves you feeling unexpectedly tired by the time the sun has set. I didn't think we has anything sweet in the house until I came across an unexpected, dark chocolate caramel crunch bar. It had been tucked away on a much earlier day and was waiting for just such a night. A perfectly wonderful addition to a quiet Friday night.

Evening Walk, Day 12

The warmer spring nights beckon us to take walks around the neighborhood. Tonight we found ourselves winding around our neighborhood noticing flowers and trees and garden gnomes as we listened to the chatter of a 2.5 year old.  We normally miss so many little pieces as we zoom by in our car. We returned home to see our bunny eating her dinner. Grace comes in simple pleasures.

Don't Worry, Day 11

We've been going to the library on Saturday mornings. Usually, we pick out books for Josiah. Last week, I brought home a book for myself. Felicity by Mary Oliver. The poem below if from her book.


Don't Worry
by: Mary Oliver

Things take the time they take. Don't
     worry.
How many roads did St. Augustine follow
     before he became St. Augustine?

Prayers Echoed, Day 10

Sunday afternoon I joined with other ministers and delegates from other churches in the Central Association of the UCC for our yearly business meeting. 

- Lifting my heart in prayer and in silence with a room full of friends and strangers. There was something about the combination of silence and words, stillness and movement that reminded me of this simple, powerful truth: God is the presence who permeates all of life. God is with us when we pray. God is with us as we live. 

Rain and colors, Day 7

- A short walk on a rainy afternoon that left me a little wetter than I hoped. It seems the falling rain mixed with the brilliant colors of Spring are exactly what my heart needed today.

- The grace offered to oneself in setting a goal that was never going to be met met along with the practice of dusting yourself off to keep going. Nice to see y'all on Day 7.

Blessings Offered, Day 2

Tonight at yoga, the instructor shared this poem with the class. The words reverberated inside my heart. My friends, Love surrounds us.

Beannacht (Blessing) - for Josie

by: John O'Donohue

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 grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach 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.