Quiet Dawn of a Working Sabbath Morning

Huh, as I write this I think, my friends celebrate the Sabbath from Friday night into Saturday. Technically, we celebrate from Saturday night into Sunday, although for each group if we grab a couple hours and put them aside we’re lucky.

But what if we thought of the weekends as holy? The whole thing. Treated them and ourselves with a bit of reverence? Offered ourselves a bit of respite, maybe even some learning. A bit of play? Some yard work… clean out a drawer… Something reflective…

Something as reflective as this river is reflective. Something as blue and gold and rose. Something as full of clarity as this fresh spring air.

Sabbath… For clergy it’s a working respite… which seems odd, but there you are nonetheless. I have to plan my morning carefully so that what i’m doing comes from a place of reflection.

Today, really is a working day for my community as we have our annual meeting and look at budgets and make plans for the year ahead of us.

Dawn’s gift is clarity and observation in some traditions… I’ll take that this morning, yes indeed I will… and hope for a day of sweet Peace… for us and for everyone. Love. Peace. Blessings.

Never Too Late for Beauty or Peace

Sunsets often transform cloudy skies into wild beauty. There you’ve been, moping along all day, complaining about the clouds or the rain or the mist, and the Sun, on the way out door, headed home for the night, takes advantage of the moment and turns the sky into Beauty.

It can steal your breath and stop you in your tracks. And oh, I hope so. Paying attention is so very important. When we’re offered Beauty, we should take advantage of it.

It’s good to remember this when we’re gloomy about the prospects of Peace. We can be the transforming Beauty. We need to be.

Silliness for Peace

Sometimes, I confess, my brain makes weird (wonderful) loops. I think this was one of them. You may or may not…

But the horse just looked so “newsy” as my mom would have called her. (I guess you couldn’t mention noses in her house while they were growing up. She always said cows were newsy.)

And the dog was so disinterested in what was going on. snugly tucked against the warm barn wall, catching a snooze in the sun.d

Next thing you know, there I was anthropomorphizing! And amusing myself. There are worse things!

And if you’re going to work for Peace, you’re going to have to find your sweetness and light where you can, because often Peace is very heavy going. Not always, but often enough!

So here’s to laughter and to silliness, and to fabulous new red shoes. And oh, yeah, here’s to Peace

The Right Tools for Peace

Since we all make Peace differently, it’s important we find the tools that help us do the work. Sometimes they’re little things that fit in our hands, other times they rearrange the world.

Who we are and how we make Peace is really the question, isn’t it?

What is the discipline we use to develop our Peace-making muscles? What are the tools we need to help us? Who is our team?

How do we make Peace?

And more prosaically… how do we find pleasure in the small, strange things?

Puffballs of Peace

Dandelions. Once the most hated lawn weed, not elevated to hero status. The bees love them. So do birds. And who knows who else. But the bees. The bees we’ve almost driven to extinction — partially by our lawn care products — love dandelions and are encouraged by their existence. hurrah.

No more sending kids out with senseless weapons (did anyone ever come back from an encounter with a lawn full of dandelions without blisters and at least one stick wound?).

The dandelions were fierce in their determination to stay. Maybe we should have listened to them rather than developing chemicals to extinguish them.

What if we let ourselves stand for Peace like those determined bursts of brilliant color? What if we were useful in every way, doing one kind of work at one point and another kind at another. What if we were persistently cheerful and called others to our assistance working hard to make the world beautiful? What if we could shake our heads and disseminate Peace seeds in every direction, rest a bit and come back and do it again?

Let us be dandelions for Peace, cheerful, persistent, prolific, profligate, even! They offer such great lessons! We can learn them! Let them proliferate and teach more of us… and oh, take care of the bees.

Making Time for Peace

You think life looks one way and it does, for a while. And then it changes. And so do you.

Waking on my 64th, somewhat bemused that this is where I am in life, I’m aware of two things:

How very lucky I’ve been in love and family and life experience.
How precious the time we have is.

So we need to make it count. We must be thankful and celebrate, that’s for certain. We must also be accountable. It falls to us to make it wonderful for others. We’re the ones to make Peace. We’re the only ones who can.

So thank you. Thank you so much!

There have been times in my life when I’ve felt that the losses in my life have left huge crevices that will never be filled — but the sweet friendship and kindness of so many are brilliant stones and shining pearls that have filled up those crevices with Beauty. The ache for those gone before is replaced by astonishment for those here. What’s not to celebrate?

Love! Peace! Blessings! oh, Hurrah!

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.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In