The Winter Solstice brings more wind, more rain.
A single bird sings with many voices in the Holly tree.
The song is vibrant, clear, urgent. I long to understand its message,
but all I can hear is joy, all I can see is the Holly Tree,
singing to the wind and rain.
.
It’s about colour,
simply and wonderfully
ignoring distractions,
absorbing,
like water aware of rising and falling,
aware of the observer,
seeing with different eyes.
During the 1980’s, Mike Bryant created a Peace card. He hoped that by sending it to friends and relatives, they would sign it and re-post, and a chain of Peace would spread around the world. I have to admit that I never got around to sending on the card. I wish I had, but as Mother Earth heaves with sadness, and her people are drowning in sorrow and grief, I offer this Peace chain, to join with other Peace chains along the way. With today’s technology words travel further and faster. Taking up the sword is not the answer. Peace is the answer.
Image of world globe from original card by Mike Bryant
Wings of Peace is author’s own.
I am heartbroken tonight at what has happened in Paris. I pray that the Lord would comfort the families of those who have been senselessly slaughtered or wounded, that He would heal the wounded and return them to health and wholeness, that He would protect all the responders who are trying to bring an end to the carnage and care for the victims, that He would give leaders, authorities, and enforcers the strength and fortitude to face what lies ahead in the days to come, and that He would put His hand of blessing and safekeeping over Paris, all its citizenry, and the entire country of France. May there be no more heinous crimes against humanity therein. In Jesus’ name! Amen!
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with…
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Strive for simplicity
The Mayo Tao
I have abandoned the dream kitchens for a low fire
and a prescriptive literature of the spirit;
a storm snores on the desolate sea.
The nearest shop is four miles away –
when I walk there through the shambles
of the morning for tea and firelighters
the mountain paces me in a snow-lit silence.
My days are spent in conversation
with deer and blackbirds;
at night fox and badger gather at my door.
I have stood for hours
watching a salmon doze in the tea-gold dark,
for months listening to the sob story
of a stone in the road, the best,
most monotonous sob story I have ever heard.
I am an expert on frost crystals
and the silence of crickets, a confidant
of the stinking shore, the stars in the mud –
there is an immanence in these things
which drives me, despite my scepticism,
almost…
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Sophia said do not try, be still, sometimes that is enough.
Curtains still drawn.
The soft glow of a spot-lamp on the old oak table.
A cafetiere of fresh coffee on the little blue tray,
printed withVan Gogh’s beautiful Almond Tree blossom.
Books on shelves and all kinds of loved objects nearby.
Objects of stillness.
No question, suggestions, to being where they are.
rooted wherever I place them.
I listen for Sophia’s wisdom,
but she too is quiet.
No sudden revelation, or shock of recognition.
No fleeting glimpse of that ‘Other’ that exists alongside our reality.
In this stillness, I acknowledge the wisdom Sophia brought to me,
giving gratitude for adoration and play.
In response to the 5 day photo/story challenge from suedreamwalker check out her lovely blog, I accept this writing challenge and hope my efforts are worthy of Sophia’s wisdom.
My nomination for this fifth and last photo challenge is Virgilio Gavia@ gaviafamily.com
Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.
(Sporadic posting is alright if you’re unable to post each day
Sophia says, go out to play. And the day was full of expectation.
~ ~ ~
When I was a child, I climbed walls, just to see what was on the other side. It didn’t matter how high, your friends were always there with you. You could sit on a wall, throw a ball against a wall, use it as a wall to mark the goal posts. A wall was just a wall, made of brick coloured bricks, brick shaped bricks, bricks that smelled like bricks. Real bricks. Sometimes, you simply sat on the wall, deciding what game to play or where to go next. You told each other jokes and laughed a lot.
When I was grown I built lots of walls. Walls made of square pegs in round holes. Walls made of paper shapes. Walls made of expectations. Walls that served no useful purpose until I saw they were made for learning how to climb again.
This is my fourth post In response to the 5 day photo/story challenge from suedreamwalker. She has a wonderful blog.
Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge. My nomination today is ‘In A Dim Light.’ A wonderful and sensitive blog.
(Sporadic posting is alright if you’re unable to post each day.)
Blue Flamingo’s © 2015 TCFlynn
Sophia said it doesn’t matter that you don’t know how, or why, or when.
Listen, there is music.
A random google link to Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom brought to my mind the words “Sophia says go out to play.” So in response to the 5 day photo/story challenge from suedreamwalker check out her lovely blog, I accept this writing challenge and hope my efforts are worthy of Sophia’s wisdom.
The Pond
As my eyes became accustomed,
I could see below the surface.
Whiskers on the black catfish made me think of spiders,
how they run towards you, as if they knew.
It made me shiver but I stayed at the edge,
watched a dragon-fly dance on lily pad leaves,
eager goldfish catching flies, and hundreds of tadpoles,
wriggling like cut worms.
I wondered how and when they turned into frogs,
and where they went when they left the safety of the pond.
It made me wonder about the world.
My nomination for this third photo challenge is Geo Sans, the simplicity and style of his blog are a real treat to see.
Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.
(Sporadic posting is alright if you’re unable to post each day.)
Wisdom is realising what monuments of your life are worth restoring,
and what needs rest.
Thresholds
Old buildings are incredibly interesting, the lives they contained, the changes, the eventual giving way to natural processes of decay, mosses, lichens, nesting grooves for all kinds of animals, and there are those not built to last, will never age with grace and beauty.
Beginnings and endings. The open door-the closed-the locked. Was it a purposeful decision or allowed to occur without permission. Life has a way of repeating various scenes, acts, places, reaping the same response from habits formed. Other doors are available, other ways of being, doing.
But I like the one I already have, you might say, it’s comfortable, and I’ve just bought a new chair to sit in. See how well it fits me.
Stop. Look closer……you look so much better standing up, your body is leaner, fluid, movement propels you into action. I know what you’re thinking, I told you so, isn’t that it, how many times have I told you to change what you’re doing. I know, I know, but you didn’t understand, it wasn’t just about the chair, the comfort, the routine, it was an essential stage of life, propelling me further than it looked from the outside, even more than I could realise. In hindsight, I see how much editing there was, always striving to find a better way, a better word, a better life.
Life is a great teacher and I say thank you to all those monuments, some are still very beautiful. Am I ok with letting others go ? Well, I know how to swim, maybe I could swim better.
I was inspired to write about thresholds today after listening to the words and music on platosgroove.com it really gave my morning a kick-start, listen in.
This is the second post in response to the 5 day photo/story challenge from suedreamwalker – take a look at her Healing Wood posts.
If you want to have a go, the rules are-‘Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.
I am nominating Trini at pathsofthespirit
