• architecture,  Barn,  John O'Donohue,  landscape,  quotes,  sunsets

    The Heart of Wonder

    August 6, 2020
    Setting sun at the Arapaho Bend Natural Area. I took this image back in 2013. Since then this old barn/shed has been taken down. I’m glad I have this image so I can remember it’s presence.

    For Presence

    Awaken to the mystery of being here
    and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

    Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

    Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

    Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to
    follow its path.

    Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.

    May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.

    May anxiety never linger about you.

    May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of
    soul.

    Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek
    no attention.

    Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.

    May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven
    around the heart of wonder.

    John O’Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us
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  • clouds,  Fujifilm X-T3,  Fujifilm XF16-80mm f4.0,  John O'Donohue,  landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  Self-portraits,  trees

    A New Beginning

    August 1, 2020
    Quiet time for reading among the pines at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    For a New Beginning

    In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
    Where your thoughts never think to wander,
    This beginning has been quietly forming,
    Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

    For a long time it has watched your desire,
    Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
    Noticing how you willed yourself on,
    Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

    It watched you play with the seduction of safety,
    And, the gray promises that sameness whispered,
    Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
    Wondered would you always live like this.

    Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
    And out you stepped onto new ground,
    Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
    A path of plentitude opening before you.

    Though your destination is not yet clear,
    You can trust the promise of this opening;
    Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
    That is at one with your life’s desire.

    Awaken your spirit to adventure;
    Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
    Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
    For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

    John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
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  • clouds,  John O'Donohue,  landscape,  mountains,  natural areas,  quotes

    Time In Prayer

    June 20, 2020
    Morning reflection on a glass smooth Dixon Reservoir

    “It is no surprise that in our loss of connection with Nature, we have forgotten how to pray. We even believe that we do not need to pray.”

    John O’Donohue

    Joan and I met for a walk/talk session at Pineridge Natural Area this morning. We took the shorter route around the reservoir which is not quite 3 miles. They were predicting a beautiful day after yesterday’s overcast skies and rain, so a lot of people were out to enjoy it. After our walk we ate brunch on the patio of a new restaurant called the Chicken Coop, which serves American Mexican breakfast and lunches. We will need to go back and try other things on the menu and definitely include another walk.
    Time in nature is time in prayer.

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  • John O'Donohue,  lifestyles,  quotes,  shadows

    Sojourners

    June 12, 2020
    Morning shadows in my bedroom

    “We rush through our days in such stress and intensity, as if we were here to stay and the serious project of the world depended on us. We worry and grow anxious; we magnify trivia until they become important enough to control our lives. Yet all the time, we have forgotten that we are but temporary sojourners on the surface of a strange planet spinning slowly in the infinite night of the cosmos.” 

    John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes
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