Drifting Peace

We’re so bound and determined to do things now. Now! NOW!

Sometimes now is not the right time. Sometimes it’s not the right time because you’re not well (or well-enough) prepared. Sometimes it’s not right because it’s just not the right time.

When the way is drifted shut, it’s not the right time.

You can work against that, but you run the risk of not only missing the beauty of right here and right now, but also of losing sight of the long-term goal in your need to forge ahead.

When the way is soft and drifted, admire it and hole up for a while. Enjoy the Peace of what is.

Peace of the snowy drifts to you.

I find this picture particularly poignant, because 2016 doesn’t look like a year of a lot of drifted snow. It’s early days, i can easily be wrong, but… Enjoy the beauty. Enjoy the fact that for once, there are no miles to go before you sleep. Dare to enjoy the Peace and Quiet!

Taking that Moment for Peace

When the moment arises, you must seize it.

That’s what these gals did.

Man, does that sun feel great on your back.

Consider. A break in the temperature, a barn break and someone delivers lunch. There’s not much more we can ask of our lunch breaks with our work buds..

Sometimes life is wildly meaningful, sometimes it’s just the experience of joy.

These are the moments that are so essential to our understanding of why Peace for all should matter for us.

Sometimes you just want to go out with the girls and you should be able to…

Because the moment is right. Because Peace. Because it’s better for Peacemakers to be filled with Peace.

Lunch break anyone? Peace break?

Practicing for Peace

I’m not sure what the scales of Peace are… or the beats or the (enter sports analogy)…

But I know we need to practice them. It’s what will make Peace sing.

It’s important when you want do great things to have the basics at your fingertips.

Years of hours practicing scales means your fingers automatically know where to go. It means when the Peace process bogs down you have other notes to offer, other harmonies to try. What about this note, or this? The movements are instinctive.

Music is hard. Peace is hard. We need to practice and get good at it. Music practice, spiritual practice, Peace practice. Beautiful music changes the world. Peace changes the world. The practice is worth the time.

And oh, by the way, I think Beautiful Music can be a road to Peace — one we don’t talk often enough.

Fields of Peace

This morning a friend reminded me that the field has a beautiful sky promising fair journey and maybe fair harbor if we do the work?

Some days, the weight of what lies ahead feels heavy and other days I remember that there are many hands making the work light and the journey a pleasure.

That’s where i need to keep my focus… because as Nell Morton so famously reminded us, the journey is home. Good company makes the journey so much more fun.

The sweetest blessing. Thanks for traveling with me and for helping me keep my eye on the distant prize…

Peace of the Snowy Field and the long Journey to you, my friends. And to me.

Snow Day Peace

We had a very benign snow, there really didn’t seem to be any downsides to this one. No school missed; no parents scrambling to find someone to cover the kids at home. Not enough snow to do much besides ground us for a bit in our neighborhoods.

Lots of neighborhood chats and laughter. It was grand and it was beautiful. Life in snow-motion — ah…

I know if it was all the time, it would be wearing. And had it been a lot more, it can be dangerous. But because it was the weekend, what I saw was facebook filling up with neighborhoods pulling together: everyone came out and streets were cleared, parking spots were made and so were sledding hills. I read about pop-up hot chocolate stands and laughter.

There were a lot of happy children. And a fair number of happy adults.

Snow’s fun. and it’s just beautiful. So here’s to snow days. Here’s to good neighbors! Here’s to the Peace of Now days. Hurrah!

A Cup of Tea for Peace?

There is nothing sweeter than a bit of a gossip over a cup of tea.

What is going on in your life? The answers come out and go down so much more smoothly over a shared cup of warmth in some cozy, comfy spot. And on a cold day? Even more lovely!

Sometimes life really is that simple. Sometimes something sweet fixes what ails you. Put the kettle on for Peace.

Snowy Sabbath Peace

No, really snowy. We cancelled church. I’ve never heard of such a thing! But we’re a regional church so people are coming from long distances.

It’s so beautiful outside. It was gorgeous yesterday when it was snowing and the neighborhood was out in it, and talking to one another. It was gorgeous last night when the snow stopped and it was silent. It was gorgeous this morning when Venus peeked in my window and woke me up. And today it is bright and sunny and the snow is white and beautiful.

Here I am with a day to myself. Reading. Lunch with a friend. A snow angel or two if i can find the space.

I hope it’s a beautiful day for you as well. Peace.

And as I revel in the beauty, I’m so aware of the folk who are snowed in, people who have lost their lives driving in the snow. People who are without heat. A woman I know who is out on the ocean because her boat can’t dock in a city overwhelmed by snow. May they be safe and warm.

And those trees. tracing their wisdom on the sky. May we learn from them. May we consider well the glorious of our world…

Winter Peace — At Last

It started, at long last, with ice on the river. Finally. Winter was showing up. Put on all those warm clothes; it’s mitten season! Hurrah!

And then, last night, snow. Beautiful, beautiful snow.

What I love about snow, more than anything is the quiet. The world stills. it’s wonderful.

Shhhhh. It’s snowing. The Peace of a silenced world.

Yes. I know I am privileged to have warm shelter and adequate food. We’re not frightened by threats of heavy winds and blackouts in the cold. My feet are steady and so far there’s no ice. My prayers are that people be safe…

But here where I live, it is quiet.

I was a bit grumpy when, snuggled in my bed, I heard the snow blower. They’re so loud!

But then I looked out the window and he was cleaning my walks. Um hard to complain too much… Now all I have to do is keep up with the sweeping.

And the muffling snow continues… Naps! Books! Cooking! Shoveling! Delight! and oh, right… finish that sermon!

My wish for you is that there is beauty in the Winter that surrounds you. And that you are safe and warm. May you find Delight. May you find Peace.

Snow! Snow! Snow! Snow! Snow!

(yayayayayayayay!)

The Peace of Being Who You Are

The eagle in this picture is so glorious in his existence.

Animals are who they are. That’s all they know how to be. That’s all they know who to be. And they know it’s enough. So they sit and preen in the sunlight. Not for us. Just because it feels wonderful.

Too many of us spend too much of our lives trying to be someone we’re not. Eagles don’t have that complication. Find food. Eat. Share with your mate and your children. Nest. Protect your mate. Sit on a branch in the sunshine.

Our lives may be more complicated than that, but they’re often not as complicated as we make them.

Sometimes, it’s just about being beautiful and allowing others to enjoy… Sometimes we might turn our head in a different direction to find our Peace. Because the world needs our beauty as much as it needs our brains. It needs our Love as much as our strategy.

Peace. What if we could make it simpler?

Looking through the Windows of Peace

The photo is so beautiful. Here we are there it is. Do we move through to the bounty? Or live where we are. The wheat is young, just now making its presence known… but it is growth and a reminder of what to come.

Here we are on the other side, the side of the dormant vines.

It’s so easy to see them as dead — but it’s Winter, they’re sleeping. They’re readying themselves for the next big show. It’s not easy work. It’s so easy to assume they’re lying around doing nothing; that only the green stuff works.

Because of this, we often don’t give ourselves enough rest and enough time for preparation. We don’t honor the cycle. Or is it that we think it doesn’t apply to us?

Peace is on both sides of the window. The winter wheat has been engineered. Sometimes it helps to remember that, even as we bask in its beauty.

Peace. And thank goodness for windows and the reminders they bring of where we are and what lies ahead.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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