Joy through kindness

Kindness and love have a beauty all their own:

When we seek and offer these,

Joy shall surely follow, whatever our circumstances.

Light beyond the shadows

Beyond the immediate darkness 

That looms before us there is still light:

Still the promise of a sunrise,

Hidden in the sunset;

Still a glorious dawn awaits

When all will be revealed 

And the shadows will be once again 

Imbued with color, not with fear.

Rock-hard truths

When will we learn to see beyond

Our own reflections and perceptions 

On the surface of things

To the rock-hard truths that lie beneath?

And when we finally realize — 

Are we capable of acting on what we know?

Whatever happened to changing your mind,

Admitting you’re wrong, and forgiving?

Be patient and trust

Like rain, light falls on the just and the unjust,

Singling each out in turn 

And highlighting our differences.

Be patient, and trust: the earth and time will turn,

And truth and beauty will reclaim

Their rightful place in the sun.

A tapestry of love

Life is constantly scrawling

Its impressions upon us: now light, now dark,

Now light again, all sprinkled with

These golden moments of illumination.

Our truth, our history, our hope —

All terribly and wonderfully complex.

But though there is no one way of perceiving,

There is a glowing unity that lies beneath it all;

A glorious web of connection that somehow

Weaves it all together into a tapestry of love.

When light casts a shadow

That which captures the light 

May also cast a shadow, but no worries:

The sun is always on the move.

What catches our attention

May not always be what’s real or what’s true:

The whole is almost always more complex.

Rest and restore

My dogwood, which refused to bloom last year,

Is gracing us with a panoply of blossoms,

Almost as if to remind us that to take a break,

Unplug, unwind; to sit a spell and just drink in

Without contributing is beneficial, even restorative;

A break from which we might return

More energized than ever...

Stop, look, listen

Uncertain times can offer us a vital invitation

To slow down, stop, evaluate:

Is this who and where I’m meant to be

And what I should be doing? 

Do I feel safe, and am I contributing 

To the safety of those around me?

What’s the most important thing

To notice about this moment? 

Rest and refuel

Rest a moment,

Here, on the edge of what is and what will be.

Feel the earth beneath your feet 

And know your connection to all that is, 

That ever was, and ever shall exist;

The oneness that fuels the world.

Inspiring generosity

Everywhere we look we can see evidence

Of the extraordinary generosity of Nature;

Of the depth of her determination to survive.

I take heart and inspiration from her efforts...

The root of the problem

When we take a closer look

At the roots of the challenges we’re facing

We begin to realize how very complex

And even ugly they may be.

But until they are exposed,

Until we face them honestly,

How will we ever begin to understand

How best to go about healing?

Nothing lasts forever

Yes, there will be times 

When the chaos seems overwhelming.

We simply have to trust we’ll find our way,

Somehow, over, under, around, or through:

Nothing, not even the best or the worst,

Ever lasts forever.

Let’s not assume the worst

We don’t always know what’s happening 

In the lives of those around us,

So just to be safe — and kind —

Why not trust that their intentions are the best,

Instead of assuming the worst, accusing,

Blaming and attacking.

Weeds to remind us...

How does it keep on happening,

That just when we grow most discouraged,

A simple weed decides to sprout 

Right outside your back door,

Determined to remind you — 

Not just that there is beauty in the world,

But that you don’t always have to be

The One who plants it...

Focus on the light

All life — and the best art — 

Is a mix of sunlight and shadow,

And we can’t always choose where we sit.

But we CAN choose to seek out

What light does exist; to focus on that

(While acknowledging the shadows)

And make every effort to share that perspective.

Why divide?

Let us appreciate it all — 

The blowsy freckledness of age

And the oh-so-beautifully wrapped

Promise of youth;

The delicacy of pink and the hardiness of green;

The wisdom of age and the naive exuberance

That enlivens youth...

Why do we continue to divide the world

Into yes this and not that?

We walk the same earth and breathe the same air,

And together we’ll always accomplish more

Than ever we could alone.

Looking back...

Given the uncertainty that lies before us,

It’s not surprising that we sometimes

Choose to look back;

To fondly remember less fraught times,

Conveniently forgetting the struggles we once faced

As a woman forgets the pain of childbirth.

Be not afraid, but keep on following

The path that we’ve been given,

Trusting that life will take us

Wherever we need to go to fulfill our destiny.

Some days the heart aches

Some days the heart aches

Like a field of daisies in the rain

For all the fragile beauty in the world

That is simply viewed as weeds,

Ignored, or mowed down;

Trampled thoughtlessly or viewed

Not as individual, original, gifts, each sharing light,

But simply as a random mass of color...

Hold steady

If you truly wish to create something new,

You may need to get your hands dirty.

Hold steady, focus, and trust

That what you are building 

will serve the world.

White spaces in our lives

We forget sometimes that it’s okay

To be a work in progress;

To not have all our ducks in a row:

Think of the not-knowing times, 

The white space in our lives, as opportunities 

For something new and different to surprise us.

Blooming in the cracks

Caught in the eternal dance

Between possibility and disappointment,

Let us take heart and inspiration

From those who somehow manage 

To bloom in the cracks;

Whose vibrant color springs 

From that deeper place of connection

That lies beneath the hard challenges of life;

That, fed by our common grounding in love,

We, too, may reach out into the light.

When something rotten topples

When that which is rotten topples,

It may well damage important structures

That need to be kept in place.

We need to be careful, removing the diseased

While shoring up what’s needed

To keep us healthy and strong. 

The question is: who’s deciding which is which,

And what is their criteria?

Listen to your soul

The most appealing paths

May not always be the ones that lead us

In the most important, critical direction.

Choose wisely, listen closely to the voice in your soul,

and do not let yourself be led astray

By charm, or promises of wealth and beauty

That ultimately benefit no one but yourself.

A colorless world

When we reduce the world to black and white,

When we are always right and they are wrong,

So much is lost. 

The truth is, color feeds our souls: 

The blue of skies, the green of trees, 

The many shades of flowers and of skin

Offer a bouquet of delight 

Whose constant variations both inspire us to grow

And remind us in times of loss

That dawn, and spring, and new life will return.

Endearing lessons

When will we learn to watch over each other

As tenderly as this mother nurtures her young?

Life on the edge

In times like these, balance is critical: 

We need to be conscious, eyes downcast, 

Admitting that we’ve not yet reached our goal;

Aware that we are perilously close to the edge.

But we also need to keep moving forward,

Stay focused on where we hope to go,

What we hope to achieve,

And who we are determined to become.

Listen, and love

Violence is never the answer; listening is:

Receptivity, and acceptance.

Attuning our ears to the stories that lie beneath

The heartache, anger, and pain.

Power over is never the answer; humility is.

Empathy is. Community is.

Whatever our differences,

We need to learn to respect

Our common humanity:

Standing together and lifting our faces,

Drinking in, sharing, and offering out

The love that ignites and embraces us all.

What can we do?

What can we do with the rage we feel,

The fear, the shock, and the frustration,

The helplessness and horror?

What’s the next step when painting and writing

And crying to our friends is not enough?

Where do we turn when all the doors

Are locked and all the streets are blocked?

How will we find our way back to

The values that once defined us —

Peace, justice, and equality for all;

Respect for the dignity of each —

How did we get here?

How did we lose our way?

The role of beauty

Why pursue art and beauty,

When all around us cities burn,

Injustice reigns, and death tallies are rising?

Perhaps because so many souls are wounded

And desperate for reminders

That there’s still hope and light

Blooming somewhere in the world...

Death comes to the garden, too,

But still the flowers lift their faces to the sun.