Persevering for Peace

Ruby is a good mascot for Perseverance… Ain’t nothing gonna keep that tail from wagging or those legs from doing what they can.

The tail wag is how her Dog Mom makes her decisions for her health. Ruby continues the fight with enthusiasm, tail wags and hey there, Mom kisses.

Peace needs us.  It needs us to be as determined as Ruby is — and as cheerful. Why drag our way to Peace. If our goal is Joy, then Joy should start now.

It makes the journey so much easier. It reminds us that Life is a gift and part of honoring it being joyful and persevering in the greatest challenge we have ever been given: Peace on Earth. Let’s do this thing. Let’s persevere in Peace.

Peace Rocks

Rocks are so present. So weighty. Their age and strength offer security. I think of them as such givers of Peace. Holding one grounds me. I like having one in my pocket (but not in my shoe!)

It startles and disturbs me that people have used rock as weapons of violence.

And from that developed an entire arsenal of killing machines. Such sadness.

But rocks? They sit there. They are present. They are beautiful, even when they’re plain and common as dirt, because dirt is beautiful as well.

We could all stand to do more sitting and being present. The North and Winter in some traditions are represented by rocks… by presence. They carry our history in their striations. They’ve heard our stories.

Let us be more like the rocks this winter. Present. Tellers of Stories. Givers of Security and Peace.

Bogs and Peace

We talk about being bogged down and that’s seen as a bad thing. Bogs are spongy and slurpy and like to suck our shoes off our feet. And as the (i think) hilarious meme says (or sorta says, sorry, author, for the misquote) “Growing up, I thought that quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem in my life!” In my youth, on tv shows, everyone got caught in quicksand at least once.

But we don’t talk about the fact that bogs are teeming with life: avian, reptilian, icthyoid, mammalian, and amphibian. It’s probably where life started.

Why don’t we talk about that?

We do know that wetlands are important. And not enough of them are protected. When those sponges are unhealthy, we are as well.

If we want to foster life, we need to clean up our water and our wetlands. Peace of a healthy ecosystem to you my friends.

Water is Life and Peace

Water is Life. We must care for it.

There’s no way around that. We come from water, are born from it. It is 60 percent of us. If we can’t process water, we die. If we don’t have clean water, we die.

My troubles dissolve in water. It brings me Peace. Clean water is necessary to me in ways far beyond the physical.

We must care for water. It is not an endless source… We have the water we have and we keep polluting it. It must stop. We must stop. We must demand that greed is not more important than our water. Water is sacred and belongs to the people. Let us bless the water. Let us be a blessing to the water. Even as it brings us Peace, may we bring Peace as well.

Water is Life. Water is Peace. Blessed Be.

Peace of Festal Foods

There’s my brother and his family and my family who remember our family’s festal foods. Most of them keep the holidays a bit differently than Deb and I did… And now with Deb and her family gone, Betty and Sam gone, and my not needing several tins of cookies with only Steve and me to eat them, my holidays look different than they once did.

I miss making cookies with my mom. I miss making them with Deb. I miss the smell of the house as the different cookies bake.

This used to be the saddest puzzle. Now it’s simply a puzzle. What do the holidays look… and smell… and taste like… at my house? To tell the truth, I don’t hunger for the sweet stuff. I hunger for the memory.

I think Festal Foods matter. I believe they bind people together… I don’t know what they are right now! I don’t even know exactly who my family is.

Trust me. There are worse things! Eating my way to Peace! Binding hearts in Peace. Holiday Hurrah!

 

Hope and Love and Peace

There is so much ugliness in the world. Some of it is huge and stunning. Other pieces are simply small and petty. Today I’m tired of it. Today i long for something different, even while knowing we’re what needs to be different..

It’s time to say no to hate. We can’t do that by being hateful. We don’t need to allow hate, but we don’t need to join it.

So no. Peace, I say to you, Peace. Real Peace. Peace with Justice. Peace with Hope. Peace with Love.

I’m sorry, I’m not going to let any of us be lazy about it. Too many lives at stake. Peace be with you — and with me. That’s all I’ve got. Today’s a good day to Peace.

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Peace of Short Days with Lots to Do

The start to Winter Holidays were long cold nights when everyone was crowded together inside and no one went out but to hunt and care for the animals. And in days when the days were not about gifting and more about celebrating and dancing (ok, and probably drinking), the holidays were probably more fun.

However we got to lavish and wildly expensive gift giving, I’m not excited.

This year I’m scaling back. I say this who was always a lousy giver of gifts! I’m giving gifts to the kids and the adults are getting donations to important organizations that will change our world. And suddenly, I feel so much more generous. It makes me happy. It makes me feel useful.

It also lessens the amount of crazy running that I do. And who wouldn’t celebrate that? And truth be told, it shifts my sense of loss of family to a connection with the wider world. I have family, whom I adore and of whom I am fiercely proud and for whom I’m incredibly grateful. And now I have a world that I feel responsible to, as well.

The holidays are wonderful if we fill them up with people we love and fun events. They become less so when we stuff them with assignments. Whatever you ponder during your holy days, why not give yourselves some down time to do that. Mull some cranberry juice, or some wine, light some candles and settle in.

Peace is in the beauty, not the crazed running around. Find yourself a lovely slice of Peace and consider your world — all its beauty — and all the places you’re going to use your powers for good!

We’re needed. And so is the Peace we bring, in Winter’s lovely short days and beautiful long nights and all the rest of the year, too. Let’s Peace.

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Snuggling Into Winter Peace

You really are supposed to get more sleep in winter. Our bodies are built to sleep when it’s dark.

Mine agrees with the sunlight. I force myself to go to bed earlier and I grumble if I can’t sleep later than usual.

It’s about repairing and filling up. We not only owe ourselves that, we owe our lives that. Rest and regeneration. Quiet times at home. Candlelight. Laughter. Peace.

Right, we have some Peace to make in the quiet. and Peace to plot about. Peace to dream about! Can’t dream without sleep!

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The Peace of a Little of This in a Lot of That

There is always in the season that is coming a bit of the season that is leaving. And when we’re deep in the season that is, there will be whispers of the season on the rise.

lt’s the beauty of our world. And it’s the bane of human existence, which likes this or that, rather than this and that… but here we are. And Autumn still lingers, just a bit, lending its blessing to the days ahead. We’ll take that blessing and be grateful. Even as we anticipate an entirely other kind of beauty.

Peace, it’s always changing; always complex. Just like the seasons… Aren’t they all incredibly beautiful? Peace be with you, my friends.

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Winter’s Peace of What Is

Look at those critters. One day they’re munching on grass; the next they’re hanging in the barn. Oh, they say, sleeting. I’ll stay inside and eat. Oh, they say, Look, there’s grass, I’ll eat that tasty treat.

Humans spend so much time railing against what is. That’s not what I wanted, we cry. Hello, weather! Hello, season. Hello, Life!

This is what we have. Dress appropriately. Eat winter foods. Move about getting on with life.

We can’t make Peace if we’re worrying about being in control of the uncontrollable. We make Peace with our attitudes and acceptances. Oh, this is who you are! Well, Peace. Some of it is that simple. When it’s not simple we have more work to do. Peace. Now.

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