Having Nothing

"Every need brings in what's needed.

Pain bears its cure like a child.

Having nothing produces provisions.

Ask a difficult question,

and the marvelous answer appears.

Build a ship, 

and there will be water to float it.

The tender-throated infant cries,

and milk drips from the mother's breast.

Be thristy for the ultimate water.

Then be ready for what will come

pouring from the spring."

-- Rumi

Water Lily

"My whole life is mine, 
but whoever says so will deprive me, 
for it is infinite.
 
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.

No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal --
in the rhythm of my daily soul
I do not desire -- I am moved.


By being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors..."


-- Rainer Maria Rilke

The morning after

"There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

Oh, can't you see the morning after?
It's waiting right outside the storm
Why don't we cross the bridge together
And find a place that's safe and warm?

It's not too late, we should be giving
Only with love can we climb
It's not too late, not while we're living
Let's put our hands out in time

There's got to be a morning after
We're moving closer to the shore
I know, we'll be there by tomorrow
And we'll escape the darkness
We won't be searching anymore

There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)
There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)"

-- from the song by Maureen McGovern

Living in the crack

"The birds they sang at the break of day
'Start again,' I heard them say
Don't dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be...

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in." 

Leonard Cohen, Anthem

Just breathe

Okay now. 
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Now keep breathing.
Please.

Consider the poppies

Wise words from Matthew, for any of us who might be agonizing over what to wear to a black tie summer wedding in New York:

"Why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow.  They toil not, neither do they spin -- yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these..." (Matthew 6:28-29)

Moving into Pentecost

This little beauty was glowing in the parking lot next to my car when I stopped off at the library yesterday. I love the way the light reflects from the flower and at the same time shines through those glorious seed pods.  But I could also imagine that at another time of day, or from another angle, it would be shining through the flower and reflecting from the seed pods.

Spirit -- or whatever you choose to call that glow of love, or creativity, or faith that seems to emanate from folks sometimes -- is like light, I think.  It cooperates with us, reflecting from us or shining through us in a way that makes us seem like it emanates from within.

Somehow that makes me think of something we did to celebrate Pentecost in that little church we helped start up some 20 years ago: we made headbands for all the kids (probably half that congregation was under the age of 10) with flames on them to symbolize the way people glowed with the spirit. Such a sweet memory...