Ever present mystery

It’s always there, the mystery: 

Shining through the busyness and complexity, 

Enlightening the darkest corners of our lives, 

Reminding us — when we remember 

To stop, look, listen, and breathe — 

That we are not alone; 

That we are loved.

Welcoming the change

It’s as if all nature celebrates with exuberance 

These last few days of summer, 

Tossing clouds into the sky like confetti; 

An explosion of rejoicing; wild abandon 

To both celebrate the harvest 

And to welcome the return of winter’s rest. 

If only we could be so welcoming to change…

Forgiveness as a rainbow

We sit, amazed, before the rainbow, 

Wondering at the miracle of colors birthed 

When a patch of light is cast 

 On clouds and rain; 

A beauty that is echoed when 

The soft light of forgiveness falls 

Upon clouds of anger and the rain of tears.

Simple pleasures

In a time when so much has been reduced 

To its simplest, most practical form, 

It stirs the soul to be reminded 

Of the complex, impractical indulgences 

Of the now-so-distant past.

Protective coloration

The choices we make — where we’ve been, 

Who and what we’ve loved — 

Have a way of marking us, 

Leaving traces of the past. 

We can use those marks 

As protective coloration, 

To mask our true intentions, 

But what lies beneath 

Will inevitably shine through.

In the fallow times

There will inevitably be times 

When we are prevented, or simply unable, 

To be where we were meant to be 

Or do what we were born to do. 

Don’t fret: the tide will rise again 

And lift us back into life. 

Think of this fallow time as an opportunity 

To breathe, to dream, and to listen 

For what new insights we might bring 

To the work that waits for our return.

See and appreciate

Beauty is everywhere, even in the simplest, 

 Most mundane circumstances. 

Our job is simply to see and appreciate.

Pattern recognition

For an artist, repetition is a way 

Both to get into your work 

And to declare it as uniquely yours. 

But for humans repetition offers 

Opportunities to learn: 

We keep getting it wrong until we get it right, 

Or we keep repeating patterns 

Hoping the outcomes will be different — 

Einstein’s definition of crazy… 

Some patterns we repeat may define us: 

They can simplify our lives, 

Help us develop healthy habits 

And keep us safe — 

But then there are the others, 

The mistakes that we keep making, 

The ones from which we never seem to learn.

Hands lifted in prayer

We who have been praying for centuries 

Will continue praying for all that matters: 

For peace, and health; comfort and safety — 

Not just for friends, family, and neighbors, 

But for all who live and breathe 

And dare to love.

Truth will be revealed

First, there is a mountain, 

Then there is no mountain, then there is… 

What fog and clouds obscure 

Will always be revealed again with time: 

Like mountains, truth lies waiting, 

Solid and serene beneath all obfuscation.

Longing for a simpler past

So many of the structures 

That once guided us to safety 

Now seem outdated; obsolete — 

Replaced, in many cases, 

By things unseen, complex, 

And hard to comprehend. 

Is it any wonder that so many of us 

Long for a simpler past, 

And find it hard to trust what we cannot see?

Patience and a prayer

Whatever inconvenience there might be 

For those of us who are forced 

To slow down and wait 

Pales in comparison 

To those whose lives are changed forever. 

Time to be patient, 

Time to be grateful for your own safety, 

And time, too, for a prayer for those affected.

Unique, but not alone

Look around you as you move through this life: 

Everywhere you look there are echoes: 

Echoes of choices you’ve made 

That others have made, too; 

Echoes of shared experiences 

Of love and loss, successes and failures… 

You are truly unique, but not alone, 

And the sooner we all realize 

How much we have in common, 

The better off all of us will be.

This masking thing

This masking thing can be a bit of a bear, 

And carrying proof of vaccination 

Can be even more so. 

But we do these things 

On behalf of one another, 

In acknowledgment of the common bond 

We share with each other; 

A silent witness to our mutual vulnerability.

Clouds on the horizon

Yes, there are clouds on the horizon. 

The days are growing shorter; 

We no longer wake to light — and yet, 

With that comes the harvest; 

The fruits of all our labors

That will feed us as the winter closes in. 

Welcome the apple; nibble on the fig 

And be grateful for the bounty of the past.

Nurturing uniqueness

The challenge for a parent or a spouse 

Is not unlike the challenge 

We face for ourselves:

How can we protect, nurture, and encourage 

The wild and precious spirit — so unique, 

So divine — that lies within? 

How can we create a safe place 

For the soul to dance its uniqueness into life?

Benefits of boredom

Sometimes a road is just a road, 

A day is just a day, 

The work we do just feels like work — 

And that’s not bad! We need those times, 

Of quiet comfort, of familiarity, 

To balance out the inevitable highs and lows: 

Think of them as the white space 

That every designer uses

To ensure we place our attention 

Where it’s needed.

Transitioning to what’s next

Standing, once again, upon the bridge; 

That all-too-brief transition time 

Between what’s now and what’s next 

(A future often shrouded in fog), 

We realize, once again, how small we are, 

And how alone, each journey so unique, 

Even as we’re guided by 

All those who’ve gone before us.

Misdirected focus

It’s easy to get distracted 

By what is evil or broken in this world; 

To get caught up in judgment 

And focus our time and our passion 

On pointing it out and rooting it out. 

But when we do that, evil has won; 

Has successfully kidnapped our energies: 

Energies that might have been spent 

In the creation of goodness and beauty.

Open to new life

Like the flower who closes herself 

To protect herself from the rain, 

We close ourselves to protect ourselves 

From the memories — which keeps us 

Both from learning from those memories 

And from opening to the return 

Of light, and life, and joy.

A trick of the light

It’s altogether too easy 

To make snap judgments - 

To decide what —or who — is black or white 

Without a second glance, 

When often what we think is wrong or right 

Is merely painted so 

By the light in which we view it.

Shifting landscape of emotions

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 

Her infinite variety.” 

Perhaps Shakespeare was inspired 

By the endless variations of a sunset? 

We, too, can learn to look upon 

The same face, day in, day out, 

And marvel at how our responses 

Are colored by emotions…

Paying attention

A relationship, a community, a country — 

These human creations— 

Like a house, they need to be attended to: 

Without consistent maintenance, 

They’re in danger of collapsing. 

Simple bandaid measures will never be enough.

Attempting to control

We spend so much of our lives 

Attempting to rein in and control 

The uncontrollable, not realizing 

We are boxing ourselves into corners 

When we could be out riding the waves...

Attachment to antipathy

What is is it about our antipathies, 

That we feel we must nurse them 

At every opportunity; 

Constantly locking horns; 

Immersed in righteous indignation 

At the slightest possibility of a slight? 

When will we discover that our greatest enemy 

Is not those whom we perceive as “other,” 

But our blind attachment to our own attachments?

Plant anyway

Not everything we plant will come to fruition: 

Prepare the ground, protect and plant anyway. 

Care for what does survive and thrive, 

And revel in the joy of those accomplishments. 

Appreciate and be thankful 

For those blessings that do appear, 

And trust that they will balance out your losses.

Truth like a rushing stream

May truth roll down like a rushing stream, 

Washing away all the lies and misinformation 

That divide us, one from another; 

Sister from brother, daughter from mother, 

Friends and neighbors from each other…

Stillness, reflecting

Still waters reflect the light and the color. 

Find a bit of stillness in your heart today, 

That you might reflect the light of love 

And the colors of hope 

Into the encroaching darkness.

You can choose

If we pay attention, there will always be a gap 

Between what we experience and how we react. 

In that gap, we have the opportunity 

To choose: not just how we will respond, 

But also the lens through which we perceive. 

So then I ask: what do you see? 

Is this a train wreck about to happen? 

Or the flame of spirit deep within 

That ignites the passion in your soul?

Fuel your future

No matter how fast you go 

Or how far you travel, 

You can’t escape your past. 

Think of it instead as fuel for your future.