Posy Peace, llvl

Today is brought to you by the sturdy, cheerful daffodil.

They’re not the first flower to tiptoe in when spring starts, but when they arrive spring is no longer hovering on the edges of our lives. The light has changed. The temps have usually warmed some. And there they are. great masses of them, thumbing their trumpets at the wind and the cool and damp. They’re not fragile.

I love that you plant them and they slowly take over. There are houses whose entire lawns become spring festivals when the daffodils bloom. You can find them in the woods where there used to be houses and the while time has reclaimed the foundation, the daffodils sunnily march on. They are creatures of abundance, those blooms.

My cousin wrote after seeing this morning’s poem to remember her spring coat. Both our mothers sewed, and we were so lucky… and my mother LOVED color. when it was spring around our parts, you could tell that the Evans girls were in the house.

So, get out there and shine. Be strong. Be beautiful. Be Peaceful. Be your best self. It’s spring and it’s time to blossom!

Work, Play, Peace, llvl

When you’re living “local,” Mother Nature sucks you in! Pay attention, she says, we’re in relationship.

So, no matter how busy you are, no matter how important your work, you have to make time for a cup of tea with your friend the Earth — the Great Mother. You have to care how she feels. You have to notice when she’s looking great… (and yep, you have to be the nurse when she’s ailing!).

And you have to balance the other important things in your life with this relationship. Your health is dependent upon hers. And her cycles ground you and give you so much pleasure.

It’s Earth Day… the 44th. Why not take the next year and explore your relationship with this fascinating, complex, breathing entity? And today? start a new habit of noticing and appreciating. She’s worthy of your effort and respect. Peace to all on Earth. Peace with the Earth. Peace. Earth. Peace. Earth. Peace.

Love, Chaos, Peace, llvl

Yesterday we celebrated Passover with a Seder at our church. It was wild, chaotic and all these visitors were streaming in the doors. I was the sole worship person that day, no assistant, so i had it all on my plate. No time to talk to strangers, other than hello, hello, come in… and occasionally holler oh! we need a new table. More Seder plates! Is there enough horseradish?

And the kids were doing Haggadah Role Play which has satisfactory amounts of dying even for grade school boys. The Angel of Death wanted to know if she could have her job every year. um… sure? There’s a spiritual path for you…

That’s what celebrations should be like, though… crowded and crazy filled with good food and laughter and lots of love. That’s Peace building If ever I encountered it. Traditions kept and embellished.

“Walk right in, sit right down, baby let your hair hang down.” Cause we’re all family here! Peace, my friends!

Forsythia Sabbath Peace, llvl

I love the promise of forsythia (can violets be far behind?). All that sunny, beautiful yellow. It simply hollers Spring.

Happy Easter (Western and Eastern Easter are on the same day this year!). Glad Pesach. Happy Spring (we’re actually a month after the Equinox, but the weather’s staying chilly, hence the late April forsythia in Central PA.). Much of the world will be celebrating sacred holidays today all of which have Hope in common. May that Hope spill out on the rest of the world.

The turning of the seasons brings back such memories and such opportunities to make more memories. Remember. Re-member. Piece Back together the times that came before.

So much to look forward to, so much to enjoy right here. I’m going to go sit beside this river and eat breakfast with my sweetie — it will be a fine start to a wonderful day!

What ever you celebrate may you be filled with Hope. And may you have a wonderful Peace-filled Sabbath, reveling in the Beauty and the Possibility. And what the heck. I’m up and on time on East Coast time!

The Peace Between, llvl

In my mind, I separate the peace we find in our souls with the Peace we make in our world. I don’t believe you have to peace (little p) to be working on Peace (big P). I fear that, too often, we’ve substituted the pursuit of our own calm and beautiful center for our struggle for the well-being of the world.

That said, we can’t neglect ourselves either. Life is here to be lived in. Selflessness is overrated, I believe. Selflessness does not often embrace the richness of life, and what a crime that is. So it’s a balancing act…

Some people don’t find flying easy either. The first time I flew in a big plane, I got on in NY and got off in Sweden. I was hooked. New worlds at the end of flying. (The first time I flew in a little plane there was The Sound of Music at the end… who knows where my friends took me.) So who didn’t want to fly. I’ve almost always flown alone. And that’s lovely for me. And flying with Steve is a fairly solitary event, since as soon as he gets on a plane, he drowses… and I’m back in my little world. Just me and a brand new book with a fun place at one end and a fun place at the other. Well, hopefully. Not all my flights have been to fun destinations, but most of them have been to Love…

This country is so vast and so diverse in the landscape. And there we are in our little silver tube sliding along. It somehow feels very like being part of the river moving from a source to a delta… at least for me.

I suppose this is particularly true because when you fly between Love, life is busy on either end and flying is solo and silent and rejuvenating… and somehow so very hopeful. So, even if I have a hard time getting my clock reset. Even if there were a billion people to see and not a lot of downtime there and a billion things to do and not a lot of downtime here and those wonderful things are my Life and my Work… in between, I’m part of that lovely silver river of Silence, sliding under the bridge… and then, time for Peace and Peace Work again. Counting those blessings…

The Discipline of Peace, llvl

I don’t know what I was thinking yesterday… it’s 10,000 hours, not 2,000. That’s five years of the hard work of Peace Making in order to have Peace become reflexive in our hearts…

Will it work? I can’t tell you. Is there any reason why it shouldn’t? I don’t see one. I see a lot of impetus toward Peace. Not the least is the recent paper circulating in the Eastern Ukraine, (is it a governmental decree or a terroristic sect’s threat?) that all the Jews should go to register on threat of forfeiture of their citizenship and their property… along with all the continued oppression happening all over the world…

We must be the difference. And we must start to work…

Peace is in our hands. It must be in our hearts and in our actions. We must practice, every day and every moment. All these years after it was sung, are we willing to give Peace a chance?

Body Memory Peace

I got to see my husband play with a mentor this week. It was such a joy. Benny Barth, jazzman!

One of the things I loved about the experience was realizing that both of these men, playing wonderful drums, were handicapped in some way. Steve’s hands are full of arthritis, he has neuropathy and he now needs carpal tunnel surgery. Benny’s in the beginning stages of alzheimer’s.

But wherever else there is impairment, behind the drums there is none. Not in the way they sit, not in the way the hold their sticks, not in the way the music flows through them. They’ve played so long, that rhythm knows how to make it’s way through them.

It was a joy and an honor…

I couldn’t help thinking… what if we practiced Peace that way? Practiced so long and so hard that it became second nature? That Peace could have her way with us, even when we were feeling irritable or small-minded? It would take a lot of hours to make it second nature… But watching these two men, I had Hope. Hope. Peace. and 2000 hours of practice. And we’re off!

Catch and Release Peace, llvl

What do you think? Too corny? I confess I really like the notion. Move toward Peace, enjoy the moment, let it go out into the world. Take the next step, repeat the process.

What would that mean? Well, some of it would mean filling up the airwaves and the electrons with good news about Peace.

I know a lot of people get nervous about about putting good deeds in the newspaper because they feel it’s self-aggrandizing. But the fact is, some place in our brain we’re monkey see, monkey do. We’re more generous when we see other people being generous.

So it makes sense to Catch and Release Peace. Make it. Love it. Proclaim it. Repeat. Fill up the newspapers with good news. Maybe we should have contests! Peace! (and look at Deb’s beautiful new Pic that inspired this! and look, it’s the 16th day of April in the 16th week of the year! and it’s still a palindrome: 4.16.14. Beautiful Happiness and goofy Happiness!)

Peace Here and Now, llvl

I’m away visiting family, so I guess my wind up is slow. Certainly is this morning as I write this a long while after waking up!

It took me until the end of the week to notice how the angel was a little black and white slice in that pile o pansies and daffs. I liked that life was vibrant.

When people ask me what I think about the afterlife, I often reply that I don’t. Well, of course I do, I have many dead loved ones. I like to think that they are up there having a great time and will be happy to welcome me home. But that’s wishful thinking… imagining, kinda… But I don’t have a “sound theological understanding” of heaven, because — I don’t think it matters.

I reserve most of my thinking for the here and now, because that’s all I can affect. Things aren’t working well. Are they working worse than they have? I don’t know, I don’t find that helpful either. There is work to be done. There is Peace to be made. There is appreciation to be given.

All we read is war and hate. It’s our turn to start making headlines for Peace and Love. We need to do what matters. We need to turn from the negativity. It’s not about the nos… it’s the yeses that matter. Let us be the ones who give Peace a (fighting) chance! Let’s be those who work for connection and community.

Peace of Perfect Days, llvl

However grand we find life most of the time, there are still those astonishing halcyon days, when everything seems perfect. We especially notice them in spring when the weather turns nice for the first time. But every season has them. They are extraordinary days, filled to the brim with Beauty and Love and Gratitude.

Hopefully when these days arrive we can remember to count our blessings rather than demand that all life be that perfect. Into every life a little rain, and all that! These days are beautiful, ephemeral jewels to be exclaimed over, enjoyed, and released… These are sacred days, not mundane…

hmmm. there’s a theme to be explored… life as catch and release…

yep, pretty sure I should stop right there. Peace… Beauty, Love, Gratitude — not much more that’s needed! (except, of course, your appreciation).

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In