Something Beautiful, Something Peace

“I will set my bow in the sky as a promise…” Of all the biblical pieces that have stuck, this is one. Every time I see one, I’m happy.

So to see this one, on this day…when my heart was feeling so many things — so many things that in fact I blew past my exit and took the long drive to the next exit. It was only as I was turned around, coming home, that I saw the promise.

And it was gorgeous, hidden there behind the curtain of rain.

Such a gift of beauty. And I often think of rainbows as summer pleasures part of the joy of thundershowers. Yet not an hour before, we’d had snow.

But you take Beauty and heart’s ease where you find it. You find the holy, the sacred, in the ordinary. You count those blessings when they’re there to be counted.

Peace comes in so many little gifts. Let us celebrate. Let us Peace.

Sweet/Bittersweet Peace

It’s what happens in small towns. Your life changes, people die, but life goes on in the place you once thought of as home.

Twice now, I’ve had the privilege of being in the homes of the people who bought the homes my family owned.

Yesterday I stood looking for the doorbell at what was once my sister’s home. It turns out they’d taken it down because it malfunctioned. But the fact was I didn’t know where the doorbell was because of course I never had used it. That almost derailed my ability to go in that house — thanks for the reminder, reality.

But once inside, it was all warmth and sweetness. The house does look great. It’s fine that it’s familiar. Or it was yesterday.

I could tell them the story of Jack and Jane — a great love story — who married in what is now their dining room. We could sit around the table that they obviously sit around a lot. and she’s as silly a decorator for seasons as Deb was.

They talked very seriously to me about their plans to love the house… as if I had to be assured they would do right by it and i told them how deb and nan and i all planned to rock on that porch with sippy cups in our old age… and laughed that I’d be over. They laughed too.

And so they were married.

And it was bittersweet. But, it’s the season of bittersweet isn’t it? And it is bright and glossy orange. And sacred, it seems.

And the sweetness is still there. And there is a great deal of Peace in that. (And did you see that Frosty Moon last night? It was beautiful.

Crispy Fall Sabbath Peace

And here it is. That quick turn to coolness. No fooling ourselves any longer, the season has changed.

We’ll have a little sweet respite this week, but temperatures are living up to the (down to) the Frosty Moon name.

And it’s time. Life is moving on as it does, as its meant to.

Today’s Sabbath activity recommendation? Go see those leaves!

Me, I’m going to make myself some food I can gum for now and to take along to a meeting. After which I’ll go do a wedding in my sister’s old house for the young couple who lives there. If that’s not observing the change of the season, I don’t know what is.

Blessed Sabbath to you. Blessed Peace.

Beautiful Fall Peace

Autumn: warm days, cool nights. Color: blue skies, startling red, orange, gold leaves.

This part of fall, when the pumpkin fields are full, when the leaves turn, before the rains come is so invigorating and wonderful.

Time to take advantage of this sacred season! (hint, they’re all sacred!)

I realized this morning as I was waking, how little I knew about my parents’ honeymoon, how little I thought to ask about them and their early days. Children are self centered little monsters aren’t we? and Parents are probably not as forthcoming as they might be. Great time to wonder, eh? Long after the parents are gone without even my sister to call and say, huh. i didn’t know about this. Life. you never know what you’re going to want to know.

But looking back, i think, well no wonder Fall was a big deal at our house. First, it’s beautiful and my artist Mom and appreciative Dad would have loved the color. But second, it reminded them of a very sweet time in their life.

But however you came to appreciate Autumn, I wish you the Peace of beautiful days and a glorious Frosty Moon in a black and starry sky.

Peace, Remembering, Hope

Well, this isn’t the best of news, but it seems even the researchers don’t know what the final outcomes will be.

At the very least, they have discovered that trauma can be carried in our DNA. Is there more that that carries?

Is that sense of knowing, that recognition, that we sometimes have part of our DNA?

It’s certainly thought of as part of Chinese Medicine.

I remember. I am part of what once was. I am not passing down DNA… this may be the first time I have ever been somewhat regretful about that…

And yet, I will be an ancestor…

It’s all so fascinating.

Peace of the Tiny Little Things

Luckily, yesterday was far less traumatic than the last time. (which only makes me believe harder that my dentist used a string, a wrench and a door in the removal of that molar. No seriously, folks. that was owie!)

But my brain was firing on fewer than all cylinders most of the day, so it was a pleasure to come home to a new book by a favorite time whiler-awayer… And since I usually write her a review, so I didn’t even have to pay her for it. I’m happy to read and review Audrey Faye‘s books. They’re sweet, edgy, and amusing. And just the right length for a look away from life. Oh, and she writes series of books with bunches of friends that you get to know and care for. Always a fave with me. I read lots of different kinds of books, but I always have a few that simply take me away from what i’m doing now. so hurrah.

Actually, I’ve corrected enough spelling mistakes in today’s post that I’m clearly not yet firing on all cylinders! Maybe I’ll have to reread the book! And wander down to the book store to see if they have the Tim Wise’s new book, “Under the Affluence,” which I next need to read.

But when your brain is marshmallow, stick with the fluff. You do what you do when you can…

Peace is often very small and sweet, which means it’s not entirely insignificant. Peace. wherever you find it today, my friends.

Collaborative Peace

It’s not that it’s such a big deal that two small communities should try to work together and share resources and energy. Or maybe it shouldn’t be such a big deal but it is.

Today I met with representatives from another congregation from a very different tradition. It was lovely to dream just a little and to work at what the boundaries might be that would keep us good neighbors and maybe make us a lot better neighbors, not only to each other but to our larger community.

We each harbor sweet dreams of Peace. Today, we harbored them together. That was pretty great.

Let’s find more people to do that with, shall we? Peace. Sweet Peace. We need to find you.

I see a new Moon arising — and no, it’s not trouble I see on its way, it’s Hope.

Peace of Having Gotten Somewhere

When asked how his music is different now, after all years of playing; he said he could now add to his notes all the color of emotion and expression.

What lovely insight. You do your work, you practice the scales and the pieces. You put discipline into your craft and gradually or maybe suddenly you realize that you and the music (or insert your art here) are playmates, free to explore and to be explored. Free to enjoy. Free to be enjoyed.

She talked more about the instrument and the way she’s gradually made this flute her flute. A new flute, different, bolder, more capable than any tool she’s ever played. She gets to bring her color to this new tool as well as to the music… and the music pours from her gift.

Do your work. Over and over again. Climb the steps and then swish down the sliding board — And then climb the steps again.

Their joy in playing was palpable. We can have that joy in our lives if we just do the work. And while that’s not a simple thing, it is an every day thing.

What joy these two brought their audience of friends who have listened for years. What joy they will bring those who listen for the first time. What joy they have in what they do. At this changing point in their career as musicians, what bigger Peace could they ask than to keep on doing what they love. What sweeter Peace can they offer? It’s a new Moon in their lives as well as for us. May it be filled with beauty.

Not So Perfect A Peace

And we’ll take it.

The perfection of something is the perspective we bring to it.

Yesterday was a day with a lot of wonderful facets. The weather, the scenery, the friends, the family. And if I’m counting, my religious community. I like us. A lot. It was all that a sabbath can be. I even got to read.

So the day was just grand. And it carried the sweet emotional residue of the day before.

The day was made more precious by the reminder of what had been lost in Selena’s life.

So, when we see sweetness, we have to notice it, and then embrace it. And then sit down with a piece of apple pie and a glass of cider to celebrate.

Peace is where we find it. And when we see it, then we can begin to help others find the Peace that allows them to breathe in the sweetness…

Peace on the Cusp

Today the Old Moon ends and the New Moon rises. Bye and large the harvest is finished. In Canada, tomorrow will be thanksgiving, which is much more in sync with the actual harvest.

Here in Pennsylvania, the leaves are taking their own sweet time to make decisions about changing. There are just the slightest hints of color starting. However, I just looked at the thermometer and for the first time i saw that the temps had dipped into the 30s.

No, Ann, really, time to dismantle the porch that gets no light (and by light I mean warmth) this year.

But I stood outside a barn yesterday (it was a wedding, relax, I wasn’t being rugged!) and looked down across the empty field toward the river. The late afternoon light was all Autumn, and everything was golden in the light. The air was clean.

The world had moved on even though many of us still clung to last season’s warmth. The Beauty on the cusp of changing Moon and changing season was lavish. Open your hands and hearts and let go. And what the heck, take the Sabbath to revel in it, why don’t you?

Notice the Beauty, my friends. We can’t move on to Peace, if we’re holding on to the joys and privileges of last season.

Sacred Village

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