Life in Totality

I was pondering the preciousness of the moment as it was, the simple abundant moment of now. There is nothing I can do to change the past. The future cannot be held. All I have is this one moment. To meet it fully alive and aware. Looking up, there she was. The grace of the moon mid afternoon beautifully haunting against the blue sky. The illumination of dark sharing the illumination of day. With a smile and chuckle, what better image of meeting life in its totality, this moment, now.

A Day to Dance

Like the gentle dance of incense offering sweet joy to all, may your day effortlessly and peacefully flow.  May all the gifts be wrapped in ribbons of arms hugging the lovable and unloved, wrapping paper of gentle sincere smiles, and inside a beating, precious open heart of acceptance, joy, and a life alive.

Opening Christmas #3 - Opened Wrapping

Opening Christmas Day 3 I giggle to think of yesterday's attempt to open a package that was ever so taped and secure. I could not find a single opening to begin to peel back the layers of tape. I finally sat and just laughed at the box.

On this day 3 of opening Christmas may I ponder the soft layers gifted by morning. To know no matter how precious my heart, perhaps one could even say scared and bruised, I can offer it with openness and softness like the layers of morning and light upon the mountains. That is, truly, the gift I am giving no matter the contents inside a box. To release the tape and wrap with gentle soft layers that will greet the heart and hands that receive. No tape, no layers of protection, no fear...the gift is known in its opened offering.

Wish List

I watched a piece of Christmas wrapping paper dance with the wind down the street. The present, wherever, had been unwrapped.  I laughed to think of the colorful paper's dance as one seeking another gift to adorn.

And as I pondered the season and recent events, Christmas wish lists and letters to Santa, the dancing wrapping paper left thread.  But one gift, perhaps is all I need to ponder.  To gift to Life, Love, Source, God, Yahweh, Allah, the Expression and Life sought when the Divine spark was lit within me.  

I AM, all ARE, the wish list of Life, Love, Source, God, Yahweh, Allah, the Sacred.  Perhaps the wrapping paper flew off the gift of my heart.

Faces of the Moon

She called from Missouri because she knew the moon is precious to me. The moon there, an hour ahead of mountain time, was full and red and almost caused her to drive off the road so amazing was the sight.  I stood at the picture window, watching my moon tree. The tree that always gently holds the moon as she rises and lifts her into the night sky. The clouds were too many. Her face I would not see.

And as I pondered how the same moon has one face elsewhere and another here, my eye caught the reflection of the prism in the window touched by the street light.  The prism that in the morning dances with the sun creating rainbows on my walls.  Tonight, I could not see the moon but the Light, timeless, never hidden, shown through to gift the gift of light and sight.  The sweet sweet Hands of Life.... Love and Light.

All

To awaken shortly after midnight, not knowing why, and discovering during the two hours I had slept, giggle, I had gathered my gratitude stone in my stutter hand and was holding it.  This quote was my first “People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle ~ Thich Nhat Hanh.   And ALL includes me, you, All.

And this evening as tween time fell upon the earth, closing up the house a feather I should not have been able to see called to my eyes.  A perfect white feather, but you could see a faint hint of gray in the light.  I cannot think which of the birds could have left such a gift. 

“All is a miracle” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh.   And ALL includes me, you, All.

Equinox Encore

Within the cupped hands of the timeless, the changeless and the changing rest. The seasons have changed only for those whose source of life returns to the roots awaiting winter's meditation. For the changeless the sap remains, not as strong, but enough to hold their adornment.  The timeless stands, weathered perhaps, but without sap it stands in its strength.

A picture to capture the beginning and continuation of all seasons. Like the dance of the soul unpretentious, flamboyant, graceful strength, stilled and lifted and a final pirouette. Tis the autumn equinox and the timeless holds forth Her cupped hands and gift, whispering, 'Encore."

Unshared Invitation

We can share with others our irrational and angry side. We can share our political, parental and even childrearing expressions and opinions.  Even the child in us, now a parent to the parent shares what is right and should be done’s.  We can express and claim our needs and rights to the stop sign or to go the speed limit (or better) to the drivers in front of us.  We share our impulsive side, our silly and romantic expressions and needs.  As managers, employees, citizens and consumers we freely share the unmet needs. 

Why then, is it so hard, perhaps even rare, for the naked soul and heart to quietly whisper to another, “I hurt” or “I need”?  Is there no invitation?

May my heart and spirit, with all their shortcomings and small wisdom, always offer to another, the comfort and invitation of uttering such a whisper.   

Surrendered Gray

In stillness I sat in the last hour before the moon greeted her lover, the sun, and their gentle embrace blushing the sky. The crickets continued  their night's song of joy, and only my breath stirred the air. Two stars or planets, I know not which, tiny holes in the tapestry of blackened sky.  I remembered a gift from a dear dear friend, I received in the mail. How I held the unopened package with such excitement and yet, not wanting to open it, for then the unknown would be lost.  Sitting with the anticipation of the unknown, then carefully, each corner was slowly pulled back, until the gift and softness was revealed. Like the blush, still yearning to be released, the unknown blended into the known and a new dawn appeared.  Staring at the sky, the planet stars slowly danced beyond my sight and with their dance they gently held the corners of the silken black sky and pulled back a tiny corner. Ever so faint, the deep silky black surrendered a softened gray.  The blush awaits. The dawn remains unknown. And I wondered to myself, is this what an artist feels when their soul merges with a blank canvas? Is this the longing a sculptor feels pleading and calling like Ulysses's sirens from the stone or marble block standing before him?

I sit and await the blush. The cricket continues to sing. And I think I have never expressed my thanks for the brilliant and explosive color of black yielded ever so slightly to gray. The moon and sun will soon paint the sky in colors that cause poets, artists and lovers to swoon.  But for these moments, the gray fringe upon black, pale the reds, orange and blue of dawn. The unknown. The unwrapping.  The soft gift of today held gently in the sweet Hands of Life whispering, 'It is yours.'

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

~John O'Donohue

Gifted Sky

I have never wondered whether there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  The treasure was in the gift, the possibility that exists with each drop of rain and the delight when potential is gifted reality.

I know what my day has held... as you think of your day and the night awaiting.... from my sky to yours, it is the same sky and likewise, my friend, so is the rainbow.

And should you doubt, that the rainbow is yours, a gentle reminder, look and see.... she has gifted two.