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Mar 21

Drawing the Luminous

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as architect of choosing, I choose…
to disrupt the energy of the status quo,
to eclipse the realms of ordinary,
& to live–a life-well lived.
w/ spirit, substance & style.”
― LaShaun Middlebrooks Collier

The People Who Keep Lamps Lit by Jen Shoop

“There are those people who draw light to themselves, and almost can’t help it.
They just stand still and keep the lamps lit.

These are the people who pull out a chair for you when you approach the table: “please,” they say, gesturing you into it, earnest and unaware of their outsized generosity. It is instinctive, their pre-disposition to include.

These are also the people who say “atta girl!” to strangers who have just ridden a big wave, or run the bases, and they fill the hungry heart with pride, and they do it with such ease, and egolessness, having learned some time ago that there is no economy of compliments.

These, too, are the people who say “my pleasure” and mean it, who gamely forebear conversations with the lonely or unhappy, who are practiced in the art of “yes, and–” thinking. They teach us that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that there is enough good in the world to go around, and then some.

What made them this way?

Not the absence of pain, no. More often than not, heartbreak is the holy ground that anoints them.

The more of these light-gatherers I meet, the more I believe it’s will, and will forged anew each day. They wake up and they call forth an adamantine determination to resist the ease of despair, and to believe that reality is mainly possibility — even when the wicked comes knocking.

I would like to learn from them how to draw the luminous, too,
how to stand still and shine,
how to turn on every last light in the city,
flame to flame,
unbound luminescence.”

Light
In all forms
Soak in
Sop up
Take in
Inquire
Observe
Steep
Create
Beauty
Nature
Play
Flowers
Music
Art
Joy
Untethered
Pourous
Light
Luminescence
Fill up
To cast light back out

“The daily routine of most adults is so heavy and artificial that we are closed off to much of the world. We have to do this in order to get our work done. I think one purpose of art is to get us out of those routines. When we hear music or poetry or stories, the world opens up again. We’re drawn in — or out — and the windows of our perception are cleansed, as William Blake said. The same thing can happen when we’re around young children or adults who have unlearned those habits of shutting the world out.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Mar 20

Divine Economy

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“I have often noticed how interesting footpaths and bridleways start just beyond the brambles at the end of tarmacked roads marked ‘dead end’. And it seems to me that this is very often where prayer starts too.”― Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness

“Most of us are under pressure, external and internal, to do everything, be good at everything, be accountable to everyone for everything! It is not so. In the divine economy each of us has a particular grace, gift and devotion. Finding out what that is, and learning how to be guilt-free about not doing everything else, may be part of what our Lenten journey is for.”― Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness

Lent, rooted in lengthening of days, springtime, renewal
Christian tradition, 40 days before Easter
Don’t let religion, the religious and righteous, old wounds, rules keep you from God
Who’s already there waiting and knows
Relationship, companionship, inquiry, anger, loneliness, disappointment, ego, exhaustion, delight, gratitude, joy, peace
God can hold it all and you at the very same time
Held, always loved
Take the journey

“a mature and balanced faith is not one that has refused the agony and the wrestling but one that has been through them and grown from the experience.”― Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness

Mar 19

Cardinal Points

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“If self is a location, so is love:
Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points,
Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance,
Here and there and now and then, a stance.”― Seamus Heaney, District and Circle

“Awake! arise! the hour is late!
Angels are knocking at thy door!
They are in haste and cannot wait,
And once departed come no more.
Awake! arise! the athlete’s arm
Loses its strength by too much rest;
The fallow land, the untilled farm
Produces only weeds at best.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Winter, spring
Spring, winter
Wintering rest
Spring rising
Fallow to fertile
Cardinal points
New creation unfolding
Within first, moving out anew.

“If you feel like you don’t fit into the world you inherited it is because you were born to help create a new one.”― Ross Caligiuri, Dreaming in the Shadows

Mar 18

2 Comments

Walking on Air

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“Walk on air against your better judgement.”― Seamus Heaney

“Blessed are the noticers.
The ones who see the full story.
Blessed are the attenders.
The witness-bearers.
The story-holders.
The ones who tiptoe to the edge with us,
knowing that it will break their heart, too.
Choosing us anyway.
Blessed are those who are amazed
by a life lived in its fragility,
in its brevity, in its beauty.” – Kate Bowler

Daily noticing.
Tending.
Attention.
Abiding.
Rooting, weeding, uprooting.
Gratitude, grief, grace.
All, most, some.
In ordinary days.
In waiting, wading, weighting.
Timorous or bold, in between
More bold, walking on air.

“The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.”― Seamus Heaney

Mar 17

Spring Swinging

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“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March.”― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“The stormy March has come at last,
With winds and clouds and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast
That through the snowy valley flies.”
― William C. Bryant

March push and pull.
50-degree temperature swings.
Softening earth.
Followed by 10 inches of snow.
Transformation under construction.
Preparing spring to burst with brilliant colors.
Join the dance.
Winter always yields to spring.
Time and timing.
Joy in the waiting, on each step of the journey.
Gratitude in, for, through all seasons.

“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.”― Jean Hersey

Mar 16

Bright Spark of Resurrection

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“Nothing is yet in its true form.”― C.S. Lewis

Let There Always Be Light (Searching for Dark Matter)
by Rebecca Elson

“For this we go out dark nights, searching
For the dimmest stars,
For signs of unseen things:

To weigh us down.
To stop the universe
From rushing on and on
Into its own beyond
Till it exhausts itself and lies down cold,
Its last star going out.

Whatever they turn out to be,
Let there be swarms of them,
Enough for immortality,
Always a star where we can warm ourselves.

Let there be enough to bring it back
From its own edges,
To bring us all so close we ignite
The bright spark of resurrection.”

Sun in all seasons.
To warm, melt, guide.
Lighthouse to shore.
Gentle anchoring.
Wonder, awe, delight in unseen things.
Pay attention.
Ignite.
Seek light.
Cast light.

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe a moment that never was before and never will be again”― Pablo Casals

Mar 15

Not Yet. Settle In.

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“The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.” – Norman Douglas

“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.” – Sinclair Lewis

“Not yet.”
Said winter to spring.
“Soon.”
Said spring to winter.
The dance ensues.
Winter takes the lead back from spring.
Beauty and bounty in both.
Slow. Sunday. Settle in.
The call of Sabbath.
Making space, giving way, finding treasure.

“It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.” – John Burroughs

Mar 14

Threshold of Threshold

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“Often when something is ending we discover within it the spore of new beginning, and a whole new train of possibility is in motion before we even realize it. When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises.” – John O’Donohue

“When we choose indifference, we betray our world. Yet the world is not decided by action alone. It is decided more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior. The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation.” – John O’Donohue

Transitions to transformation
On display
Nature shows the dance and delay
Late winter sun
Ice moving to water
Crisp air
Ice lingers longer
In between time
Threshold of threshold
Winter is not done yet
Spring hokey pokey
One foot in, one foot out
Tide and breathing
Cusp of emergence.

“Part of the art of living wisely is to learn to recognize and attend to such profound openings in one’s life.” – John O’Donohue

Mar 13

Blooming in the Questions

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“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”― Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”― Wendell Berry

Good questions
Curiosity
Listening
Seeking
Bloom that comes from seeds of inquiry.

“The greatest discoveries in life come not from finding the right answers but from asking the right questions.”― Sahil Bloom, The 5 Types of Wealth

Mar 12

Attention to Devotion

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“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Oliver

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil

Slowing.
Noticing.
White space.
Margin.
Pause.
Focus.
Inquiry.
Unknowing.
Curiosity.
Listening.
Kindness of presence
Generosity of spirit
Gift of rapt attention.
Cast light.

“You become what you give your attention to.” — Epictetus

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