First Sunday of Advent

In this dark night 

I have lost the path of the journey.
Go where I may, my anguish does but grow—
beware this desert, this endless road.
Come, then, O star that guides us, 

and lead the way back home.

—Hafiz

Now is the season

Now is the season to know that everything we do is sacred. 

-- Hafiz

After the harvest

We celebrate the harvest, and return

to bless the beauty of the barren fields

and the promise of the seeds that still remain:

hopes that will lie dormant through the winter,

gathering nurture for the harvests yet to come.

Of prayer, and Thanksgiving

We set a table, here within our hearts,

inviting those we love, 

and those we know who need our prayers

and offer up our thanks

for all the grace that fills our lives

and lay before your feet

the hungers of the world, not just our own,

and bow our heads in sadness

for the losses we and others have sustained,

and for the opportunities to help that we've ignored,

then drink again your ever-present wine:

the wine of grace, of forgiveness, and love.

Different Strokes

I was finally able to get back into my studio yesterday, but I'm a little surprised at the results -- this one's quite a departure for me, both in design and technique.  It's always interesting to see how time away from our usual practices -- whatever they might be -- can propel us into new territory.

I'll be curious to see if any of this style carries over into future work, or if this is just some momentary aberration.  I do like, though, this familiar sense that it's an abstract painting that suggests something more concrete...

Precious in the vast expanse

We get caught up in the drama of our lives

and forget, sometimes, how small a speck we are

against the vast expanse of interstellar space,

and even more, forget how precious 

every other speck might also be...

Not a stone or flower

O traveler, traveler along the way,
there is not a single soul who lacks a pathway to God.
There is not a stone or a flower—

not a single piece of straw lacking the divine essence.
In every particle of the world the sun of love
causes the heart of each atom to shine.

—Muhammad Shirin Maghribi

from Recitations, translated by Lynn Bauman