Different Colors of Peace.

Happy Pesach. Peaceful Sabbath. Beautiful Day.

I love those rosy dawns. And I’m forever indebted to Deb because she snaps so many of them — and I often sleep through them. I’m not sure when I became so much less of a morning person, but Deb transforms mornings for me at least on Sundays!

But this beauty gave us a different look at Dawn. The stripes on the River! That redbud tree!

That’s the thing isn’t it? The work of our lives, to keep looking at the same things, differently. To see how they change, to see differently. To see Beauty in something other than what you’d expected.

I believe there is all sorts of Peace lurking around in our lives and communities, we just have to find a way to tease it out. It’s easy enough to unleash the hate. We may have to work harder at Peace, but it is waiting… We are the ones Peace has been waiting for. Each and every one of us!

The Impartial Generosity of the Moon and Peace

On cloudy mornings like this one, it’s hard to remember the Moon, until we do.

Close your eyes and let her rise in your mind, stately and beautiful, silvering everything in her path. Sometimes the Moon’s kindly light allows us to look directly at things that seem to harsh in the Sun.

But every land is beautiful. Every place, every face a treasure in the sight of God. God doesn’t work for you? Try Creation. Fanciful? Maybe. Can it be less for us? Who are we to make that decision?

I’ve been troubled by this article on American liberals. I always imagined that seeing more would enable us to do more. Liberals often ask how conservatives can make the choices they do that seem not to be in their favor. Not so comfortable when we read we just apply things differently and make the choices we do without considering that they hurt other people. Being informed isn’t enough. We need to be congruent and heaven knows people need us to be.

I think of the moon’s impartial generosity — generous impartiality — and think why can’t I be the same? Why can’t I offer Peace in the same way? When I vote, when I give, when I think. So much food for thought… So much Peace to shine on the world. I can only be like the Moon, but if i work very hard, I can be Peace.

Cows of Peace

Don’t you love old wives’ tales? There’s always some truth to them, and some in fact have much truth, but others, not so much.

Cows lying down means it’s going to rain. Do cows lie down when it’s going to rain? Maybe they do, you make a smaller target after all. But do they only lie down in fields when it’s going to rain? No. Especially in Sweden, where it does seem cows lie down a lot. And why not? It’s cool, breezy, and often beautiful clouds. Settle in and enjoy the view!

And having been a large and happy consumer of many of their products that involve whipped cream, I’m here to say to the cows, whatever makes you happy, girls, you rock! If anyone knows how to do their job, you’re the ones!

So here’s to a picture of contentment. Happy cows at Peace on a hillside. There’s a lot about this picture to like. There’s probably even stuff to emulate! Cows! Peace!

Disciplined Practice for Peace

My husband is the best role model I have for pursuing a dream. I didn’t know him as a child, but watching him now, I know that he went after his dream 50 small hand motions at a time, and repeat.

He started when he was ten. He still does those things today. His hands have been hurting recently, so he starts as he always does, with them. Can’t do it the way he used to? what’s the new way to do it.

Then once those motions are in place, again, again, again, he can explore the music. Not that he doesn’t always explore music, but he gives it the honor it is due.

We have to be that for Peace. Practitioners, Practicers. Peace is an Art. You don’t just do art, you develop it. Same with Peace. Every day. Deliberate acts. Here we go.

Fields and Peace

Fields have a job to do and they’re pretty good at it. They grow things. Left to themselves they’ll grow whatever is right for the climate. Cultivated and coaxed, they’ll grow all sorts of wonderful and outlandish things. They are generous beyond what seems possible or even sensible.

Peace is like that too. When you sow seeds of Peace you have no idea how great the harvest might be. You just keep watering it with Love and tend and harvest what appears. And then you share it with the world.

We’d do well to learn about Peace from fields.

The Peace of Water that Wears

When you think of water in reservoirs or lakes, you so often think of water that is. And the ocean seems to endlessly offer and take away. It’s only when there are storms that we really notice it’s power for destruction.

But in little streams making their way down mountains, they slowly change the world. They’re persistent and tireless. They don’t care that it will take them millennia to carve their way through rock, they just trickle steadily over it and past whatever’s in their way.

Sooner or later, you look and everything is different.

I believe that’s how we need to be with Peace. We just need to drip life-giving force on situations so that life changes. Because let’s not forget, Water (and Peace) are life-giving. They are both life-changing. So let us protect the water and let us be about the work of Peace.

Sacred Food, Sacred Peace

Food is an amazing thing — not simply because it is good but because it is good for you.

Nourishing the body, especially when you live in abundance, should be a pleasure rather than something you get to bye and bye or a hasty act committed on the way out the door.

We say we’re too busy. What is more true is that we don’t make the time. Everything else is more important than our good health. Even people who exercise may eat well but not savor the experience. We have about 10,000 tastebuds so we are meant to be delighted by food. (Your dog wolfs his food because he only has 1700 buds and your poor cat, less than half a thousand!)

And where there is delight, there should also be gratitude. So plan for delight, indulge your taste buds and savor the results.

We’re the lucky ones, you know. One in nine people in this world is hungry, suffers from food insufficiency. I read yesterday that that causes profound health problems all your life. Why is this a surprise?

I’m not a person who gardens. Dirt and I are no good friends. But I understand that the planting and tending and harvesting of food is also sacred.

And many of us who have food, bolt it and don’t linger. We waste it. What if we ate only what was in our house and all of what was in our house? What if we under-ate a bit. Not to starve ourselves, but to let grow accustomed to what if feels like to be satisfied, but not stuffed? Playing with our food could have a different connotation than pushing it around on our plates. We could, as this picture suggests be deliberate and meditative about its preparation. Good ingredients, carefully prepared for maximum health and savoring.

We could let our food be sacred. We could be as mindful about how it nourishes us as we are how good it takes. Both, because both are things of wonder. We’d certainly care more about how food is raised and how it is distributed. Let us make Peace with what we eat and how we eat it. And then we can help to make Peace by helping everyone have food to eat.

Slow Sabbath Mornings for Peace

I used to be a person who could be up and out the door in 15 minutes. And that included a shower.

But life has changed. Or I’ve slowly grown into the person I am. Mornings are for writing and for slow approaches to the day.

Even on Sundays, my busiest out of the house work day (or at least that’s the theory, although whew!) I get up early enough so that there’s some staring into space time involved. Thanks to my weekly plans with my friend Emily, I can always count on Sunday evenings ending slowly and peacefully.

This is the day! I need a slow start to appreciate it. Just like the duck. Fly on, my brothers and sisters. I’ll just sit here and appreciate!

Whatever you do with this brilliant Sabbath morning, I hope there is Peace to be enjoyed and shared now and all day long!

More Sunlight for Peace

It is no longer the time of the comforting dark. These are the days of brilliant sunshine. The gardeners are exalting. The dirt, the dirt, the dirt! It’s finally warm enough, dry enough, sunny enough to plant.

I’ll stop there, so I don’t get myself in trouble, since I’m sketchy on the details of planting and don’t understand the thrill.

But life isn’t only about what I like, It’s about what we all like. That’s how the Peace making comes in. And goodness knows we all love succulent vegetables.

And if you’re a garden peep, you don’t have time to be reading this, so get out there, and enjoy it! The Sun is Back. Spring is definitely winning the day. And you and I are all about figuring out how to make Peace with this beautiful day, and Peace in our world.

Hurrah! Enjoy!

Rolling in the Peace

It’s not just the plants that come dancing back to life in the Spring. Most of us do too. (A special shout out to those who feel about Summer the way the rest of the world feels about Winter).

But for those of us whose faces turn eagerly Sunward, there’s something that pulls sheer, giggling exuberance from us.

For me, it’s always great to see the crocus, but It’s the stalwart daffodils and narcissus that make cheery. I fret about whether it’s time to run to Catawissa hill to see the grape hyacinths that my family always visited. And I wait eagerly for the violets to rampage across lawns. C’mon violets. (And Spring, don’t you go getting too warm on us so that the violets can play a while. pleeeeeeeze?)

There’s something about the freshness of the air that thrills. And the changed angle of the Sun. Whatever it is, enjoy whatever great laughing, Springing Peace you’re called to. This intoxicating moment is brief — that’s part of what makes it wonderful.

Spring! Peace! Life! Enjoy them all. Oh — and pay your taxes.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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