today is the day for us all
Steven Charleston
to celebrate that divine moment again,
to believe together that we are loved, all blessed,
all given grace to breathe the fresh air of a new beginning
… this morning’s prayer
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I wonder…
“We are a community old in experience but young in wonder.”
Steven CharlestonI am grateful for the gifts of sunrise, community, experience, wisdom, awe and wonder!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. -
How Well We Love
When all is said and done,
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
The only true measure of our lives
Is how well we loved.
How well we gave love, received love, shared love,
Protected love, created love.
Nothing else will matter when our turn comes
To make the final journey—
Only the love we were will linger.
Only love will still speak our name
In the hearts of those we embraced.
We were made to love, you and I,
Made so by the author of love
Made in the image of love to be the love we are.We had a light dusting of silent snowfall during the night. However, along with the snow comes the cold temperatures, 23 degrees. I made my way to the coffee shop for an Old Town Mocha made by Winter. It was rather quiet in there this morning. People must have slept in. I drove around the CSU Oval on the way home and snapped this photo for the blog. Hope you have a wonderful Superbowl Sunday.
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I believe…
Pineridge Natural Area – December 2020 I have made it through some hard times in my life.
Steven Charleston
I imagine you have too.
Looking back, I can honestly say
That in more than one of those times
I was not sure I would make it.
The presence of a living and conscious love
Got me through.
I can only call it Spirit.
So my faith is not the product of an emotional need
Or an intellectual imagining.
I believe because I know. Because I have been there.
Because of my experience.
I cannot convince others of this truth.
I can only share it and wait to see
The light of memory in their eyes.I believe in the presence of a living and conscious love
because I, too, have been there and experienced it. -
The Quiet Hours
Last night’s cloudless sunset over Longs Peak and the Colorado Front Range “I will pray for you in the quiet hours.”
Steven Charleston -
be the love…
Today I will conjure love from the empty air.
Steven Charleston
I will call it out from thin places
Where people walk without breathing
From dark places where they stumble without seeing.
I will find love in those I do not like
And let love appear in the faces I avoid.
I will make room for love in my life
Even if I feel overcrowded with worry.
I will offer love without restraint
Even if I have not received love in return.
I will dance with love in innocent pleasure.
I will sing love as though love were a new discovery.
Today I will be the love Spirit made me be
When Spirit loved me from the empty air. -
You are a living message
Here is one way to look at yourself through spiritual eyes: you are a message. When you wonder what existence is all about, when you ask about your purpose in life, or when you feel small in comparison to the troubles of the world: remember that you are a message sent by the Spirit into creation. What you say, what you do, how you think and feel: your whole life is a long and sustained message for others to encounter, experience and receive. You are a living message: sent to touch more lives than you can imagine.
Steven CharlestonMy car’s dashboard showed 2° as it grumbled to start this morning. But I was bound and termined to make my way to Mugs and support my baristas. Could be one of my purposes in life. This morning Winter was my barista, and a name fitting for this wintery day. I needed to be there, to share the message of how awesome she is and that I’m one of the many lives she touches. I was surprised how many people were at the coffee shop. They gotta be nuts to be here on a morning like this!!!!
By 7:30 the blue skies and sunshine were a welcome sight. I stayed a little longer than normal, leaving about 9:30 am. I drove to the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area to experience the beauty of the wintery scene and capture a photograph or two of the snow and frost. It was a magical time! I wish people offered more nurturing messages like our natural world does. Yes, magical!
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Tell the Tale
It feels like we are living in a time of apocalypse,
Steven Charleston, We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope
an age when everything we take for granted is starting to collapse around us.
It feels like the end of the world.…
This situation is nothing new for me as a Native American.
My ancestors already lived through an apocalypse.…
Native American culture in North America has been through the collapse of civilization
and lived to tell the tale. -
Discovering Life
The seasons finale and still a work of art Sometimes on the spiritual path
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
It is more fun to walk beside a seeker than a true believer.
I have no quarrel with those who are certain they know
Exactly where they are going on the path of faith
But often their questions are few and their stories familiar.
It is when you listen to the seeker’s vision
That things can come alive.
Questions and doubts, longings and hopes
Experiences both difficult and transcendent:
It sounds very honest to me.
And very human.
If you are a seeker, I will be proud to walk beside you
Discovering life as we go.It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I made a trip to Pineridge Natural Area for a bit of quiet and to soak up the sun. I wanted and needed both. This morning is just as lovely with blue skies and sunshine. The Canada Geese are filling the airwaves as they migrate to their winter spots. After my quiet time and a bowl of Irish Oats with blueberries and pecans, I met Eric for coffee and conversation. I saw one eagle and half a dozen hawks on my drive over there and back. Undoubtedly they were seeking a meal. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
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Happy Halloween!
Leaves outside the coffee shop Let me embrace each dawn as gift.
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
Let me walk the hours of day unafraid
With grace and faith unbounded.
Let evening find me close to those I love
Warming my soul by the fires of their laughter.
Let me sleep believing tomorrow will be a blessing.We had our first snowfall last night. I awoke to a heavy fog and mist this morning. There was a dusting of snow on rooftops and frost on windshields. I agree each morning is a blessing whether a brilliant sunrise or fog and mist. And, my walk through today will include lunch with my oldest daughter, Christine, reading a new book and journaling time. Seems to be that kind of day. Happy Halloween!
