• horizons,  landscape,  mountains,  Plants,  poems,  poetry,  sunsets,  trees

    I like that…

    July 12, 2023

    I, who live by words, am wordless when
    I try my words in prayer. All language turns
    To silence. Prayer will take my words and then
    Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns
    To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
    To silence that is joy, is adoration.
    The self is shattered, all words torn apart
    In this strange patterned time of contemplation
    That, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me,
    And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
    I leave, returned to language, for I see
    Through words, even when all words are ended.

    I, who live by words, am wordless when
    I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

    Madeleine L’Engle, “Words”

    Those prayers of my youth for help have evolved over time to become more about gratitude, listening and staying present. I like that. Prayer has become much more than the words I say and more about the words I hear, yet are unheard. I like that. I can also say the same thing with my journaling, blogging and my photography. Each is becoming what it is meant to be. I like that. My friend shared this poem with me. I found it to resonate with me so I wanted to share it with you. This is last night’s sunset along Overland Trail. Directly behind me is a pond with a wonderful chorus of croaking frogs. I like that. Moments like this have become prayer to me, no need for my words. Well, maybe “Thanks.”

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  • prayer,  quotes,  shadows

    Prayer is…

    March 17, 2023

    “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

    Mahatma Gandhi
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  • fountain pens,  haiku,  journal,  writing/reading

    My Friends Today

    December 14, 2022

    pen teeming with words
    brings forth this simple haiku
    my friends for today

    mws

    It is another cold and overcast day. The wind has picked up which adds to the cold. I have no desire to be outside but want to stay curled up in my chair, wrapped in my blanket, reading and journaling with my companions. My FPOTD1 Fountain Pen of the Day is a Brown-marbled Pelikan M200 filled with Pelikan Smoky Quartz ink (and words). Life is good! Stay warm!

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  • flowers,  Plants,  quotes

    Words

    August 11, 2022
    Clematis

    “Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.”

    Paul Tillich

    Words have become important to me as I’ve journaled through the past few years. And, words are important in my attempts to express thoughts and ideas on this blog. When I came across this quote it very simply gave me the words I was not able to express before. I like that. I use both the words loneliness and solitude in much of my writing. Now they have a much deeper meaning for me. I love words, and flowers, and sunrises, and…

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  • Avian,  Meister Eckhart,  quotes

    Words

    July 29, 2022
    An owl perched atop a saguaro cactus in early morning light

    Every creature is a word of God and a book about God. 

    Meister Eckhart

    I journal almost everyday looking for words to take form on blank pages. Sometimes they make sense, other times they don’t and some days they do not appear. Same can be said about this blog. But I continue to sit with pen and paper in anticipation of words about life. I also embrace the words creation offers me when I listen with my ears, eyes and especially my heart. I find Mary Oliver’s poetry, and others, is about their communion with nature. There is a conversation going on. They know it. I read where many indigenous people have conversations with nature for many generations. If we were to go with Eckhart’s idea that every creature is a word of God and a book about God then what an opportunity for us to experience.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    The New Story

    July 13, 2022

    “We are between stories. The old story is no longer effective. Yet we have not learned ‘the new story.’ We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe.”

    Thomas Berry

    I talk to birds. I also listen to birds. The above quote made me think about my old story which said I could only talk at birds and they could only talk at me. Having a conversation was impossible. I’m realizing how that story is evolving for me. Although birds and I do not speak one anothers language, I wonder, is there a conversation going on?

    Conversation happens between humans without words. Many will attest to having conversations with their pets. So, can there be a conversation with all of creation, without words? When making eye contact with the cottontail, is that a form of conversation? Can there be a conversation going on between the wind and trees as they dance together. Is the sweet scent of honeysuckle a form of conversation with all who will pay attention? And, could it be that just paying attention and observing creation is a form of conversation? I do not have a solid answer to those questions but at this stage of my life, I am experiencing conversations with creation at new levels, a conversation that goes deeper than human words. Maybe, this is the new story!

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