Blessed Solstice.

in the Darkness we nourish Faith
and fully believe in the (re)birth of the Light.

may we celebrate this Holy Darkness
by nourishing our Faith in the Unknown
and by maintaining our belief in the return of the Sun.

Sacred, Blessed Yule.





{thank you, Sherry, for the words. they resonate. deeply}

word.

What we speak becomes the house we live in.

- Hafiz



photo: thinking outside the box inside the box provided for artistic consideration by sabberworm

le bon mot du jour: {yes}

Of course there is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.

- Arthur Rubinstein

it's true.

The world is far more vast than we often realize we can create.
And then,
we awaken.

and that's it. we...no one...knows. take your chance.

After Fever


Under his bush,
invisibly, the grouse
folds his wings, won't flush;

in a week, hoppers
have taken over the grass,
as if they'd waited for

my eyes to turn away.
My step, tentative, still
springs them into flight,

crazy, sideways, light
bodies flung toward
they can't know what

fortune of leaf or flower,
water or pavement's disaster.
They take their chance

as I do, too soon
climbing blue spectacle,
a perfect breeze, out

of body's consumption. How
invisible well-being, worn
like lightest cloth

the wind moves, sheer
exhiliration, over
skin, the world alight

as I come back to it—
how pain is felt
as presence, not the slipping

away from one's own—
the terrible body's weight,
its knowledge, burning out.


Katharine Coles

i. can.

Variation On A Theme By Rilke

(The Book of Hours, Book I, Poem 1, Stanza 1)


A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me — a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic — or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.


- Denise Levertov

and whatever work, you are doing in me, i say, please, do it...[what is good to remember]

because You believe in me
i have grace to greet each morning sun with joy,
even when my heart is broken,
even when it seems i don't know which way to go.
i will continue on
putting one step before the other.
and i know,
you know
what it is like to walk alone,
even yet -
you are always with me.

and though i see with such limited sight,
i know,
even when my vision grows dim...
that there is a cloud of wise counselors about me,
and unseen angels who lift me up.
i have seen you move heaven and earth on my behalf.
i have seen you touch hearts and change circumstances
that seemed too hard for me to bear.
and i have seen you stand with me
through storms i feared were too great for me to endure.
therefore, i will not fear -
even when it seems i cannot see any hope for a future.

i know each moment is the whole of my life,
and it is holy.
and it is blessed.
and it is good.
it is as simple as that.

so i thank you for this moment,
for this life that you grant me,
breath by breath.
and with each inhale, i breathe in your spirit,
and with each exhale, i breathe out your love.
may it always be thus,
as i am your child.

and to love you,
and to love your world,
with a child's heart is
a great and wondrous gift.
[selah]

her name was Lung Ta, and still i trust, the Great Giver of Gifts.

So. I've been thinking a lot about my car…and how before I even drove it off the lot, I remember praying…and offering it as a blessing to the Giver of Gifts…saying, "This car is a miracle…and it is Yours. This car does not belong to me. This car belongs to You. And I am so very honoured to make use of it. And so, I consecrate it to you. Watch over it, and guide me therein to do your will." And I named my car, Lung Ta, which is to say…it embodied for me, the Great Spirit of the Windhorse…and I knew each day that my car belonged to God, and that its function was to carry me to my next level. Both metaphorically, and literally, she was my Windhorse Rising. And so, though it was a great, great grief…to…in one split second, see her beautiful, striped bonnet hood crumple over and over and over again [as it replayed in my head]…I knew even then…with such an odd sense of peace, that I could trust, even this was a gift…this was somehow her destiny, and part of her plan to bring me to the next great height in my own journey. And I remember this, as I gear up each morning…come wind, come rain…to ride to work. With each turn of my bicycle wheels and with the sweat of my brow…I trust the good that is inherent in this seeming grief. I have lost so, so much in my lifetime, and know that the more we hold on to things with clenched fists, the less we can either give or receive. And I know…true miracles can occur when we are stripped of our own glory…when we possess no strength in and of ourselves. These are the things of the Spirit, and they are more sure…and greater than we could even ask or imagine. [So even in her passing, I trust]

i think...what i am trying to say, is so beautifully illustrated as thus. it is so very good to remember.

capuchin I by debra swartzendruber

The king and the beggar's gift.

A difficult or unwanted thing can turn out to be a great gift. Frequently we receive unknown gifts in disguise. There is a wonderful old story told of a young king who took over a kingdom. He was loved before he became a king, and his subjects were delighted when he was finally crowned. They brought him many different gifts. After the coronation, the new king was at supper in the palace. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The servants went out to discover an old man shabbily dressed, looking like a beggar. He wanted to see the king. The servants did their best to dissuade him, but to no avail. The king came out to meet him. The old man praised the king, saying how wonderful he was and how delighted everyone in the kingdom was to have him as king. He had brought the king the gift of a melon. The king hated melons. But being kind to the old man, he took the melon, thanked him, and the old man went away happy. The king went indoors and gave the melon to his servants to throw out in the back garden.

The next week at the same time, there was another knock at the door. The king was summoned again and the old man praised the king and offered him another melon. The king took the melon and said good-bye to the old man. Once again, he threw the melon out the back door. This continued for several weeks. The king was too kind to confront the old man or belittle the generosity of the gift that he brought.

Then, one evening, just as the old man was about to hand the melon to the king, a monkey jumped down from a portico in the palace and knocked the melon from the old man's hand. The melon shattered in pieces all over the front of the palace. When the king looked, he saw a shower of diamonds flying from the heart of the melon. Eagerly, he checked the garden at the back of the palace. There all the melons had melted around a little hillock of jewels.

The moral of this story is that sometimes awkward situations, problems, or difficulties are really disguised opportunities for growth.

Very often at the heart of the difficulty, there is the light of a great jewel. It is wise to learn to embrace with hospitality that which is awkward and difficult.

- excerpted from "Anam Cara" by John O'Donohue

i choose. [selah].

photo by teresa willard for miranda july's learning to love you more

i choose to see everything
as working out for my good.