Tag Archives: peace
Serenity is contagious
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious.” — Satchidananda Saraswati Serenity has never been my strong suit, but maybe that’s why I …
Let us remember
“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms …
Sensations more painful
“There are few sensations more painful, than, in the midst of deep grief, to know that the season which we have always associated with mirth and rejoicing is at hand.” — Sarah Josepha Hale This week, a dear friend of ours lost her close and steadfast friend of over 37 years, after a courageous battle …
All is bright
“All is calm, all is bright.” — Fr. Joseph Mohr, as translated by John F. Young Today I’m having to keep telling myself to take a few deep breaths and stay calm. Being so far behind on household tasks such as cleaning and bill paying, as well as trying to enjoy at least some of …
A state of mind
“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” ― Calvin Coolidge Now that Jeff is home, my days and hours are engulfed in happy busyness. I can’t seem to let a day …
Joy is what happens
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ― Marianne Williamson We don’t tend to think of airports as comfortable or happy places, but this video might change your mind. During my years with USAir, I often thought how the airport gates were a setting that …
Time for finding
“When we are trapped in seeking, nothing is enough. Everything we have mocks us; we see only what is missing, and all that is already here seems pale and unsatisfying. In Sabbath time we bless what is there for being. The time for seeking is over; the time for finding has begun.” — Wayne Muller …
You will flow
“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.” — author unknown; attributed to Emmanuel Tanay Among the most ultimately comforting but persistently difficult teachings …
Being peace
“It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.” — Thich Nhat Hanh The tragedy is that the world is a very broken place, and probably always will be so. The beauty is …
The incubator of the spirit
“The great omission in American life is solitude; not loneliness, for this is an alienation that thrives most in the midst of crowds, but that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit.” — Marya Mannes I relish solitude, but loneliness is one of the most …
The cure for anything
“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.” —Isak Dinesen The more I think about Dinesen’s quote, the more true it seems. Not that I’m fond of sweat or tears, but I have lived long enough to know that both are usually beneficial, no matter how unwelcome. But the sea? Now that’s my …
Twilight and dawn
“…day and night meet fleetingly at twilight and dawn…their merging sometimes affords the beholder the most enchanted moments of all the twenty-four hours.” — Mary Balogh I have always thought there’s something enchanting about dusk, when the light is waning and paints everything in muted but clearly visible colors. Dawn is just as magical, although I …
Govern the clock
“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.” — Golda Meir As strange as it seems, much of what we think of as “time management” is just one more way of being governed by the clock. While some principles of time management are useful, such as setting goals and priorities, other advice may …
Solace in the seedlings
“…all of this time in the garden is stolen, snatched away from other priorities that clamor for attention before or after hours: family, meals, reading, household chores. This clamor is barely audible to the commuter gardener, though, for he has found his solace in the seedlings and flowers and fruits that come from the bits …
The last refuge
“I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.” — Oscar Wilde I know very few people who do not lead complex lives, and most of us yearn for simplicity. Yet the complexity is also a blessing; a rich fabric woven with countless threads that add color, durability or utility. Thus I …
The fullness of peace
“Not for me is the love that knows no restraint…Send me the love that is cool and pure like Your rain, which blesses the thirsty earth and fills the homely earthen jars. Send me the love that would soak down into the center of being, and from there would spread like the unseen sap through …
If you can wait
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise… — Rudyard Kipling If I had to name my top five favorite poems, “If” by Kipling would definitely make …
Downright goodness
“It is, without doubt, the gifts we get from our excursions into differences—the people we come to know whom we could never have met otherwise, the wisdom we see in those we consider to be simpler than ourselves, the downright goodness of those we fear because we do not know them—that make us bigger of …
Mostly standing still
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. — Mary Oliver Bereavement, grief and aging are slicing through much of what once seemed inviolable …
Regular phases
“…bereavement is not the truncation of married love, but one of its regular phases– like the honeymoon. What we want is to live our marriage well and faithfully through that phase too. If it hurts (and it certainly will) we accept the pains as a necessary part of this phase…We were one flesh. Now that …
Sometimes we do
Sometimes Sometimes things don’t go, after all, from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail, sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well. A people sometimes will step back from war; elect an honest man, decide they care enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor. …
Heart melodies
Bring me all of your dreams You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the world. — Langston Hughes One great thing about dreaming, whether asleep or awake, is how portable it is. No place is more conducive to …
Every year I dream, 2016
Merry Christmas, everyone! I wish you pleasant dreams tonight, and joy in the morning. Lyrics from the song A Christmas Dream by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Recorded by Perry Como (You can listen to the song and see some beautiful Christmas photos here.) Watch me now, here I go, all I need’s a little …
Love at the board, 2016
Dear readers, this post from Thanksgiving last year still says it better than I could say it today. It’s a sort of visit from the Posts of Thanksgiving Past, to borrow a phrase from Dickens. At the time I wrote this, I honestly never expected that it would be our last Thanksgiving with Jeff. Despite the …
Just outside the gate
“A Trojan Horse sits just outside the gate of your heart. Its name is bitterness. It is a monument to every attack you have endured from your fellow human beings. It is a gift left by the people who have wronged you…It is rightfully yours. But to accept the gift is to invite ruin into …
Defeat Despair 