I’m listening to the sounds of rain, grateful, though it means a neighbor’s beloved oak tree fell yesterday. The photos show a soft fall as though the tree simply paused in overseeing and came down to gentle rest. That’s how I view this day. The rain is cleansing and watering my roots, as I pause, and reaching horizontally rather than vertically allow my path to rest.
It is only with total humility and in absolute stillness of mind that we can know what indeed we are.
– Wei Wu Wei
We enjoyed a beautiful holiday celebration and then I caught this respiratory cold that’s circulating around so today is a quiet day, a day of stillness and rest. I have no expectation which is a lovely and freeing place to be.
The release of expectation is motivated by and supported by these words of Shunryu Suzuki:
When we do not expect anything, we can be ourselves. That is our way, to live fully in each moment of time. This practice continues forever.
I’m also resonating and sinking into these words of Br. David Steindl-Rast:
May you grow still enough to hear the small noises earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you yourself may grow calm and grounded deep within.
While some are caught in snow, others nestle inside.
It’s a time to gather and twine as we sink more tenderly, deeply, and clearly within.
Marion Woodman:
If we could allow the pace of our meetings to slow down to the pace of our hearts, we might find genuine understanding.
I’m making cookies with mint. I thought mint might be too strong a taste for my three year old grandson but he is clear and announces: I like mint! That he knows because he had his first candy cane this year.
Because he celebrates Hanukkah and Christmas, he informs me today “I have a lot of toys.” That announcement occurs before this year’s Christmas gifts and Santa’s slide down the chimney.
I think of giving and how we want to give and this little fellow has a multitude of people who want to give to him, and so he learns to give and receive. He tells me excitedly that he has gifts to bring to our Christmas celebration, specially chosen gifts to give. I know he was included in the shopping, choosing and wrapping.
Our family celebrates two days, Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and as I pause to meditate on the returning light and the joy of the season, I give thanks. May this new year bring sweetness and tenderness to All even as we understand that includes speaking out and working for what we know is right for the planet and ourselves, all One!
Fragance and joy to All!!
A day to pause and rest as light and dark meet in the delight of seasons and change. The days grow longer even as our roots sink into connection beneath what is easily seen.
Etty Hillesum:
Through me course wide rivers and in me rise tall mountains. And beyond the thickets of my agitation and confusion there stretch the wide plains of my peace and surrender. All landscapes are within me. And there is room for everything.
While waiting in a parking lot for a friend to drive me to the Sausalito ferry for a gathering in the city, I heard a noise behind me. There was a young buck with tiny antlers. We hung out together while he nibbled, and then a second appeared with bigger antlers, and then a third with even more branching.
Today I read about a mother who fulfilled her daughter’s childhood dream by building an animal sanctuary in her memory.
From the article in the Washington Post today:
Most days, first-grader Catherine Violet Hubbard could be found roaming the yard of her Newtown, Conn., home — the place where, accompanied by her pets, she’d discover a whole universe of critters and bugs to adore. Almost like a princess in a Disney movie, she’d whisper to the animals to tell their friends that she was nice, in hopes that they’d come in droves to visit her.
Ever since she was born in 2006, Catherine had a burning passion for animals, her mother, Jenny Hubbard, told The Washington Post. By the time she turned 5, Catherine had already decided she wanted to be an animal sanctuary caretaker when she grew up. But on Dec. 14, 2012, she was one of 20 children and six adults killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary.
The freckle-faced girl with bright red locks was just 6 years old. And though Catherine never got to be a teenager or see her life’s wishes come true, Hubbard has made it her mission to fulfill them. On Wednesday — exactly 10 years after the school shooting — Hubbard will break ground on the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, a nonprofit meant to foster the bond between humans and animals. The sanctuary will provide veterinary care, educate visitors and serve as a migration space for hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators.
I watch a video of a newly born baby, sleeping, gurgling, a little peep of adjustment here and there. What is it to be born, to be thrust out of a womb after nine months of containment?
Isn’t it happening all the time, these waves spreading and shared?
Surprise is the seed of gratefulness. Become aware of surprise. Relish surprise as life’s gift.
Br. David-Steindl-Rast:
A father and son were fishing today at the beach. The young boy, perhaps five years old, opened a bag to show me the fish they’d caught. They were small and not so many so he said next time he would give me some. Generosity on an exquisite winter day as the Holidays are on gentle and seasonal approach, reflecting the tides.
I offer words of Howard Thurman:
Christmas returns, as it always does, with its assurance that life is good. It is a time of lift to the spirit,
When the mind feels its way into the commonplace,
And senses the wonder of simple things: an evergreen tree, Familiar carols, merry laughter.
It is the time of illumination,
When candles burn, and old dreams Find their youth again.
It is the time of pause,
When forgotten joys come back to mind, and past dedications renew their claim.
It is the time of harvest for the heart,
When faith reaches out to mantle all high endeavor,
And love whispers its magic word to everything that breathes.
Christmas returns, as it always does, with its assurance that life is good.
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