Blessings in the darkness

Looking back over the darkness 

That was this challenging year, 

I still see there were gifts 

That shone forth like the moon: 

A raising of awareness; 

A new appreciation of my family and friends... 

But mostly I’m just glad we made it through 

And hoping for a kinder year to come.

Welcome the light

Stand, strong and graceful as the tree, 

And welcome the golden light of the new day. 

Change is coming!

Were it not for fear

There’s something so appealing 

About this level of freedom, 

And at the same time I imagine 

It could — it must! — be terrifying. 

Where else, I wonder, have I allowed 

My fear to imprison me? 

What would I do, where would I go, 

And who might I become 

Were it not for fear?

What have we learned?

Taking a minute to look back 

Over this horrific year, 

What stands out for you? 

What have we learned, 

And what will we do differently 

As we move into our still uncertain future?

White space

Whether we make time for emptiness and silence 

Or life and loss carve that out for us, 

The white space in our lives helps to reveal 

The beauty of what we had and what remains. 

What are you grateful for today 

That you might not have given thought to a year ago?

Heading into the season of light

The moon’s still hanging in there 

And the sun is on the rise. 

Here begins a new season of light: 

Can’t wait to see where it leads next.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a peaceful 

and joy-filled holiday season.

Lost innocence

Left behind on a cement road block, 

This simple childhood toy 

Makes my heart break: an echo, I suspect, 

Of all the losses sustained this year: 

So many lives, so many livelihoods, 

So much division; so few illusions left. 

May Christmas and the New Year bring 

New hope and a new determination 

To find new and better ways 

To care for and support one another.

What shall we do?

It’s been that sort of year, 

And as it draws to a close and we look back, 

Life’s been somewhat colorless, 

And many of us feel beached; 

Boats out of water, purposeless, 

Wondering what new disaster awaits us, 

And how—or even if— we might survive. 

What shall we do today to cheer each other up 

And bring color and light back into life?

Planting small seeds of change

Lasting change and improvement in the world 

Are most often brought about 

By the cumulative effect of small actions, 

Small decisions; small choices. 

What small things might you say or do 

Differently today; what tiny seeds of change 

Could you plant that could contribute 

To a more peaceful, more collaborative community?

A beacon of hope

And now the final week begins, 

The fevered preparations muted 

By our changing circumstances, 

Yet still we hope to celebrate 

The familiar beacon of hope: 

The shift in expectations 

From ever-lessening light to lengthened days; 

From endings to beginnings and new life.

Breathe your way back into light

Whatever your belief, 

I hope you’ll find some time today 

To find or create a sacred space 

In which to breathe your way back into light.

Make time for play

What could we be doing 

With all the time that’s been freed up 

By our lack of socializing? 

Let’s do something playful and creative today!

Beyond the fog

Though whatever lies before us is not clear, 

It is sure to contain both dark and light: 

Some moments full of mystery 

And others that reek of the mundane. 

Be patient, be kind, keep moving through the fog, 

And trust that each day is guiding us 

Toward a deeper understanding of what’s true.

Christmas can be prickly

Like the holly we so often see 

At this time of year, 

Thoughts of Christmas have always had 

A bit of a prickly edge: 

All that romance and glamour, 

And the expectations they create 

Can serve to emphasize both loss and loneliness: 

The snow that doesn’t fall, 

The hoped for gifts that don’t arrive, 

The loved ones who are absent from the feast, 

The drama of family issues unresolved — 

Yet still we dream, and celebrate 

The birth of hope and light 

 Into a world that hungers for their sweetness.

What can we change?

We have only to look at the clouds to see 

That variety adds spice to any picture. 

So why is it we’re so afraid of change? 

What tiny thing might we do differently today 

To brighten up our world, or someone else’s?

Who will we become?

May our enforced isolation serve as a frame 

To capture and enhance 

Our understanding and respect 

For the world beyond ourselves — 

A world which watches and hopes to see 

Who we finally become when we’re set free...

Don’t be afraid to dream

Here, in the depths of winter, 

The memories of summer assail us. 

Thoughts of lazy rivers and warm afternoons 

Spent in the company of friends 

Carry us through the cold and dark. 

Don’t be afraid to dream of better times: 

They’re sure to come again.

The infinite assurance of belonging

Stop. Just stop. 

Now close your eyes and breathe. 

Just breathe. 

Take a moment to be fully present 

To all that is, right here; right now. 

Now breathe again; release; 

 And go about your day, carrying with you 

The infinite assurance of belonging.

Laboring through darkness

Nothing new is born without laboring 

Through difficulty and darkness. 

May all who struggle in the current darkness 

Keep striving toward the light, 

Trusting that something wonderful and new 

Is being born.

No escaping reality

Looking at this painting, 

Trying to hear what it wants to tell me, 

I'm suddenly hearing Jimi Hendrix: 

“There must be some kind of way out of here, 

Said the joker to the thief. 

There’s too much confusion; 

I can’t get no relief...” 

It somehow seems to capture 

The emotions of this year and this transition...

Missing your stories

One of the great losses of this time 

Has been the lost opportunity 

To listen to each other’s stories— 

The kinds of truth we’re only likely to reveal 

In person; not so much by phone or Zoom; 

The kinds of stories that when shared 

Remind us just how much alike we are. 

These days the deepest truths I hear 

Are only whispered through the trees, 

The song of birds, the murmur of the waves...

The immensity that sleeps in your heart

Make time today to look within: 

Look deep below the surface of your thoughts 

And awaken the immensity 

That lies sleeping in your heart.

Broken and alone

Cut off from friends and family, 

There are days when this is how it feels: 

Broken and alone.

The golden hour

Think of this as the golden hour — 

The last gasp of light, 

The last leg of the journey into night, 

When the restorative powers 

Of hearth and home and darkness 

Work their magic, so by morning 

We’ll be rejuvenated and ready 

To embark again on the journey into wholeness.

The shadow you project

Be careful who you choose 

To criticize or condemn: 

The shadow you project may be your own...

May our spirits soar

Help each of us to find a way 

To let our spirits soar 

 While trapped within these boundaries...

Growing beyond limitations

Home — whatever it looks like — 

Is where we are born and how we are formed; 

The source of both our power and our blindness. 

What might we release today 

Of who we thought we were 

And what we were led to believe 

In order to lay claim to our potential 

And bring new vision to unseeing eyes?

Moving toward revelation

What would be the point 

Of going through a year like this together 

If it didn’t teach us some important lesson? 

There must be some important truth 

At the end of this trek we’ve taken: 

If only we could find a way to agree 

On what that truth might be...

What is life-giving, for you?

Forget, for a moment, all the shoulds, 

The expectations that you carry, 

The hope for some grand purpose to your life. 

Sink, instead, into the ground of your being, 

And ask your deepest self: What is true? 

What is possible? What is life-giving?

Care for the weak

It’s good to be reminded 

That such innocence exists; 

Good to be taking time to care 

For the small, the weak; 

The vulnerable and frightened...

The sun is on the rise

Planning to write about the times 

When thoughts and hopes once lost in fog 

Can suddenly appear, 

I happened to look up and see the moon, 

Just there in front of me, despite the rain. 

I took a shot, and now I see 

It’s sunk back into clouds, as if to say 

“Keep watch, my friends, keep watch: 

Though the times are gray there is still hope. 

Keep watch, and know: 

Though the moon is setting, the sun is on the rise.

Grace in perseverance

I know. 

There are days when prayer and meditation 

Feel empty; like a mailbox that’s been waiting 

For a letter to arrive, but don’t give up; 

You wouldn’t take the mailbox down — 

Keep coming back, keep checking in: 

Don’t be afraid to sit or kneel, but trust — 

There is a blessing in the silence 

And a grace in perseverance.

Each gift has its shadow

When we come to accept that we are imperfect; 

That each of us has extraordinary gifts, 

And that each of those gifts comes

With its own unique shadow; 

Then and only then will we able 

To serve the world to the best of our capacity.

Time to go outside

May you find a way today 

To explore, appreciate, and be nourished by 

The silent divinity of wild spaces...

Thankfulness in a time of loss

It’s hard to feel awash in gratitude 

When the house is empty, table’s bare, 

And chairs that once held family and friends 

Sit empty, harsh reminders of the losses, 

Seen and unseen, of this year. 

Yet still we raise a song of thanks, 

And pray that in the year to come 

We will make wiser choices,

Break through the misperceptions that divide us, 

And find our way back home 

To shared compassion and respect.

Breathe in the light

The future stretching before us 

May be dark and full of clouds, 

But there, in the distance, will be light. 

Breathe that flame into your heart, 

And trust that it will serve 

As fuel for the journey that lies before us.

A quiet space within

We can create — or find — within ourselves 

A garden space where souls may visit often 

To restore our faith and courage for the journey.

Renewed hunger for connection

Perhaps what we might learn 

From this enforced isolation 

Is how much we need connection: 

Could our attempts to separate, 

To judge and exclude have led to this? 

If we continue to reject all that differs, 

Will we be left with no one but ourselves? 

Perhaps we’ll learn to reach across the divide; 

To collaborate, cooperate, and connect; 

To find an end to our divisions 

And build together a more unified society...

A promise of recovery

I’m grateful today for the occasional reminders 

That there is hope and possibility 

Still awaiting us: 

Beyond the ever present clouds, a promise, 

Like the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end, 

If we can just keep focused and moving forward.

The gift of variety

When will we finally come to realize 

That it takes both similarities and differences 

To create a healthy and sound society; 

That each of our unique 

Imperfections and perspectives 

Can add beauty and complexity to the whole?

Time to listen to your soul

Deep below the surface of our lives 

Churns a hunger for belonging, once assuaged 

By social contacts and commitments 

To groups, to causes and shared tasks 

Now much harder to achieve in isolation. 

But we can take this opportunity 

To listen to the voice of that hunger; 

To hear more clearly what it might now 

Be calling us to become, and find new ways 

To address and express the truth of being.

Awaiting change

And now we wait, 

Awash in fear and expectation, 

For whatever change must inevitably come.

We hold these truths

Grasp lightly what you hold to be the truth, 

And employ it, not as weapon, 

But a means of reaching out, 

An invitation to inclusion, not exclusion; 

A way to build a shared communion of belief 

Founded on understanding and acceptance 

Of a broader range of possibilities...

The challenge of aloneness

And now, after a brief respite from aloneness, 

We must step back into our solitude 

To save our lives and the lives of those we love, 

Reducing the celebration of gratitude 

To its simplest common denominator: 

To be grateful for continuing existence, 

When that existence can't be shared...

Prepared to be

When that day comes — 

The moment when I’m called upon 

To do what I was born to do — 

I pray that I’ll be ready, with my oars 

To move me forward, and a bucket 

To help bale me out 

 When seas get rough and I’m awash in fear...

Seeking peace

May all who’ve been forced to navigate 

The challenges of this pandemic 

Find moments of peace, calm, and comfort 

Somewhere in their days...

Wisdom in our scars

Yet another lesson from the trees: 

We can survive our wounds and still go on; 

Still bloom, still offer shade, solace, and shelter; 

Still find beauty in the scars 

And the wisdom we have learned in the struggle.

Respecting the Other

What if, though we stand on opposite sides, 

I honor the unquenchable radiance in you, 

And you honor the luminosity of spirit in me?

Cold seas ahead

Sailing into the season of cold and wet, 

We know what lies ahead will be a slog 

But yet push on, because we know 

To set our course for spring we must 

First navigate the icy shoals of winter.