Pink Moon Gecko of Peace

Oh, I love word silliness. This particular small bit of word silliness amused me more than many small bits.

Yes, it’s sad that this child has so little written language and doesn’t listen well. I’m sure his prof is flummoxed about how to help this college-aged child embrace learning as well as pass his class. I know there’s some serious underlying stuff here. But as a friend once said, “Shallow can be nice.”

And oh, the shallow take on this? Joyful. Delicious. Laughter, the best medicine.

Ask the Gecko… Only the Gecko knows.

I wish I’d known when I was in Florida that those quick lil fellers had the answers to all the important questions of life — or at least the day… I’d have been more inquisitive.

Goodness knows I like knowing things.

But you really need to steer clear of the bad news Geckos. If that’s all you get, you’re just looking on the wrong sunny wall.

Hey, lil Pink Moon Gecko of Peace, what’s the haps?

Leaning on Pink Moon Peace

I know, I’m the one who keeps saying be here today; don’t wish it away.

But yesterday was so beautiful, it was hard not to want more, more, more.

But it was what it was, one sweet, perfect shining jewel of a day.

To want more is human, but ultimately greedy. And doesn’t leave you loving what you have right now — a perfect Pink Moon Jewel of a day. Flowers coming up, trees considering, and sun on our faces.

Oh, we give thanks! Mother Earth, Nature, the Divine, however you call it, got it right.

And if we’re smart, we’ll let the Peace and Beauty of that day dwell in us… and we’ll dwell in it. Because that’s where the Peace is! That’s where the Magic is! Both are pretty grand

A River Runs through Peace

Part of the Pink Moon season is snow melt and April showers. Those two things swell my lovely Susquehana and make my favorite drive all the more interesting.

And for some reason, who knows why, I far prefer the ride up the river, although traveling down river is technically just as lovely… since it’s all the same river!

Aren’t humans funny. (Although as I told someone not long ago, one day as I was driving up-river at dusk, the entire river and the valley were filled with sunset rose and it may just have been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen). I like this, better than that, when both are pure beauty?

Ah, but the river runs and the fish, birds, and animals enjoy it. A friend says she waits to see a brontosauras grazing… and actually, it’s not ridiculous… they used to hang out right there. All those tasty river grasses!

For me, Peace is there. Most of the time, that river is calm, calm, calm. It’s true occasionally it can rage. But so can we all…

I think I need to visit it a bit more often this Spring. See what I can learn from it.

Every day I go there I’m likely to find Peace floating by! I am so grateful!

Gathered Sabbath Pink Moon Peace

I’ve been hanging out with dear friends at their new home. It’s a gorgeous Pink Moon kick-back spring weekend. Not too warm, not to cool.

I’m about an hour and a half south of where I live, so the daffodils, forsythia, and dogwood are well started.

We’ve listened to music, visited galleries and food markets, eaten: cuban food, local ice cream and my friend’s very good cooking. We’ve seen the sights: the parks, the libraries, hospitals, churches, college campuses and gorgeous old houses.

Tomorrow, I’ll preach, but after that, it’ll be a lot the same!

This is a sweet Sabbath weekend. And I’m drinking in the Peace of time with friends who are exploring new possibilities and new realities!

Driving Pink Moon Peace

It’s still early April. It was a cold rain. Exactly the weather the Pink Moon presides over.

So I was taken aback to see soldiers sitting in the back of tanks moving 70mph down the highway with no rain gear.

Really? Why can’t they have rain gear?

I felt like the grandmother of the world fretting about those young people’s lack of appropriate clothing.

If we’re going to call these youngsters Peacemakers, don’t they have to be comfortable enough to feel like Peace is an option when they get there? I’d be pretty grumpy if i arrived wet and frozen.

“All we are saying is give Peace a chance.”

Daring Pink Moon Peace

Just about the time everyone wonders whether it’s not time to cut the grass, the violets appear. (whew say the grass cutters, can’t cut away that beauty!)

They’re such a fragile flower, except, really, they’re not. We hear them referred to as the “shy” violet, but a hillside or a lawn full of violets is a hillside of electric color.

It’s true, I love them.

I love the color and I love their courage.

It’s a good model for Peacemaking. Surprise people with your passion. Be confident in your mission. Delight the world.

Let the Pink Moon encourage not just the violet, but also you to Peace.

Crowding Pink Moon Peace

It’s just a busy time of Earth, this Pink Moon. Everywhere you look something’s happening.

I love to watch the trees flush with passion getting ready for their budding.

I love to watch the grass green and the earth soften.

I love that when our gardeners pull away the winter leaves there are pushy little sprouts there declaring their plot to dominate the world for a few seconds. And come on, sprouts!

By now, the Daffodils and Narcissus have gained quite a bit of height. They’re promising sun on Saturday and that will be the siren song that’s needed to have them burst into color.

Spring is underway. It’s still chilly. typical April weather actually. And more rain is predicted. And although it’s dreary, please, please, please, ma’am, may we have some more? We do need it. And it brings such Beauty!

I think I need to go walk around a bit and take it all in!

There’s some elusive connection I could probably make about Nature’s managing to not only have Peace with all these different plants and animals but also to produce astounding beauty and the human condition of so many lovely races and our inability to have Peace…

But I’ll leave that thought half formed and just celebrate the way the clouds on the hill turn into crowds of daffodils…

I love that corny song. My mom and I used to sing it together. There was a woman at her facility who was deep in dementia and she was scared and unhappy — and often a little mean. She muttered a lot, but didn’t talk much. But she loved this song. And when I saw her, I would sing it with her. And she would sing along and laugh and kiss her husband’s hand. Peace. Those daffodils bring a lot of Peace.

Pink Moon Peace and April Showers

Those showers have arrived. Hurrah.

Are you crazy, they ask? You like chilly rain? No. but our beloved Mother Earth does.

And we need it. Just over 3 months into the year and we’ve had only slightly more than half the rain we need. We had a cold winter, not a snowy one, days off notwithstanding.

If you’re planting flower gardens, think drought tolerant… And start thinking about how you can become an activist for this beautiful planet. She needs your Love. Nature is out of balance.

But at the same time you plan… enjoy the drenching and think about what wakes up when the rains come. It’s quite an Earth we live on.

Here’s to April showers and the joyful blossoming of Pink Moon Peace.

“Greats” are really great

I come from a nuclear family full of worriers. There is no one better for catastrophizing than my mother. It didn’t take long before she and my sister (who had always wanted me to have a biological child) were kvetching about whether or not it was a good idea for us to have taken on such a challenging child. Along with their worry came a bit of detachment – because their fear would have likely lead them to stop the adoption process, they were a bit slow to warm in their commitment to seeing our son as a full part of the family.

Without grandma fully there, there was another unexpectedly unfilled role in our village. Where was our wise and loving female elder who was going to love him unconditionally and bake him cookies right before we wanted him to eat a healthy dinner? The answer came in a woman I have adored myself since I was about the same age as he – my beloved aunt! Auntie came with us on a week-long timeshare vacation and came with a full and open heart ready to love our boy with all of her being, just as she has my sister and I through our whole lives. Watching the two of them together – doing puzzles, watching the birds, giggling in imaginative play – it was suddenly clear that “Grands” weren’t the only loving elders who could play a role in community!

Sometimes our immediate families aren’t our best supports. Who else is there in the extended clan that might be there in your village in a role you didn’t consider? A beloved aunt? A cherished coach? A favorite teacher? A church member? Love can be packaged in many ways…are you open to finding it in a different package than you expected?

Civility in the Pink Moon

Civility seems like such a basic building block. But as with anything, if you don’t pay attention, it disappears.

For some reason it’s now permissible to say all sorts of hateful things. Giving those things voice doesn’t simply reveal our prejudices, it reinforces them. It allows us to embellish them. Now there’s more and more and more that must be rooted out.

People become part of groups to be disdained rather than individuals to be celebrated.

And people think you can say everything with impunity.

Three students at Bucknell (the college in my little town) were just expelled for celebrating and reinforcing racism on their radio show. They recalled ways Blacks had been tortured and killed as a good thing. They got called to account by a prisoner in a local penitentiary who was listening and wrote to the university to say, “this doesn’t seem right.”

Well, isn’t that the truth!

I haven’t heard the reactions of their parents, but in similar events all over the country, parents have refused to face the profound hatefulness spewing from their offspring’s mouths… and hearts. Refused to look at their own collusion and perhaps incitement of such small-souledness.

People have value. Each and every one. Each and every one wears the face of God.

And so we must speak about them, respecting their holiness, letting the love drip from our tongues.

Let us re-examine civility and its integral relationship to Peace. In this season of the Pink Moon, we watch the world cover itself in beauty. Shouldn’t we perhaps take a leaf from Mother Earth’s book and investigate the possibilities of consideration and kindness?

Shouldn’t we?

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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