Summer, Sabbath, Creeks & Peace, llvl

You take your Sabbath where you can get it. Mine started before sundown yesterday with a stroll down to the creek, followed by a quiet plop or two as we settled into our chairs in the middle of the creek.

And there we sat. With no particular place to go and nothing pressing on our minds. People kayaked by. They inner-tubed by. And there we were on the front porch of Peace.

We all waved and wished one another a good evening… Just being neighborly as folks traveled a sweet highway.

A friend joined us. More desultory conversation ensued.

And then the frogs sang.

Ah, the Sweet Sacred Peace Prayers of Summer. Mother Earth was putting on the ritz in a quiet kinda way. This is what a Sabbath is all about for this (don’t tell anyone this part) Country girl.

Circle of Peace, llvl

Yesterday I received a call, asking me if I were free to perform a wedding. He and his partner are taking advantage of the new changes to the law in Pennsylvania and choosing to protect their relationship of many years. He called me because he had participated in a celebration of life service that I did.

Turns out that the memorial was for a dear friend whose wife is one of my besties. The poignancy of that connection was piercing. And where did I go in the midst of all that sniffling? Well, right to this week’s picture-perfect puzzle piece of the Sky. There we were, this world and the next, neatly folded together.

So that’s another piece, the way someone’s vision inspires and explains my own. another easy fit. Something you can find if you open to the possibility of its being there. Something that is there if you ask…

And, today, there will be another picture. How can it be as wonderful as this one? I often ask myself that… but then it is. and it is because the seasons keep turning and something shows up that’s worthy of our notice. And that’s the lovely sacred, sweetness of Life and Joy and Peace. We have to make space for the Wonder and the Hope, or people won’t pay attention. Yes, that’s our job, making space for the incredible. Sometimes just saying Oh, look at that, changes everything. It’s pretty simple if you think about it.

Life moves from Winter to Summer and back again. Life moves from Death to Commitment. Live moves and we get to be part of that — and we get to have companions on the way. Pretty damn’ sweet!

Sippin’ at June Sabbath Peace, llvl

June in Central PA. Nothing more beautiful (allergens notwithstanding.) The thing about exquisite weather is that it’s only wonderful if it’s appreciated. Reveled in, even…

And right here there’s much to enjoy. I suspect, if you’re really living your vida local, that there’s much to revel in where you are as well. Every place has treasures. And we have to lift them up, whenever we get the opportunity, because otherwise we forget how remarkable life is. If we’re not filling up, we’re not fueled for the journey.

So right here right now, in this little Valley, we’ve got amazing seasoned musicians and fabulous ascendant ones (and she’s off to Illinois!). We’ve got great restaurants and, you’re fabulous, so I’m sure you have great friends, too!

This isn’t a restaurant I can visit very often. Pretty rich for my budget, but i don’t need it all the time. I wallow in it when I get it and then get back to life. But oh, during the wallowing, it’s wonderful. Add in the music? yay! I get a lot of music married to Steve, but some nights, when everything’s aligned and the right people are in the right places, it lifts right into sacred experience!

So, today’s the Sabbath. Count your blessings and then wallow in them. You’ll count different blessings than i do, but there are so many! Enjoy the Peace, sip away slowly at it. Fill up, because you’ll need them when it’s all about back to work. Thanks for everything — and Kate Anderson, here’s listening to you, babe! Soar.

Filling Up with June Sabbath Peace

It’s a perfect June Day here. Sunny, clear, cool beginnings and endings to the day. ah… Picnic on the horizon… what more could you ask for? Gratitude for all the great dads? Got it…

And then these words by Thomas Merton showed up on my Face Book Feed: “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”– “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”

Need I say more? Not really. To give it away, you have to take it in. You have to revel in what is… I get to revel in having had a great dad. Sam was a wonderful man, and I got to spend the last of his life making it more interesting and better, reversing the paradigm!

So make some memories, put your feet up, and put something on the grill. Play a game of something in a noisy group of friends and enjoy. Because the journey goes on from today. But there’s today for Peace right where you are. Enjoy the Sabbath. If you’ve got him, enjoy your dad — and celebrate them all.

Um er… exactly my point trying to encourage (first in myself)

Grateful Sabbath Peace, llvl

It’s early Sunday morning and I’m sitting in the “parlor” of the dorm I lived in my first year in college some 40 years ago.

I’ve just spent the weekend at my college — a small, women’s liberal arts college in south central PA. I loved going there. I might have had a better academic advisor, given that i wound up with a degree in french education, and let’s be clear, I was never going to be a french teacher. But I couldn’t have had a better home for my growing soul.

I graduated in a very small class. Although we may not have all been best of friends while we were here, we knew one another, no escaping that. Through the years, when I’ve been in the right place, I’ve come back to celebrate. In the process, I’ve become better acquainted with everyone’s story. And along the way, we’ve all come to love one another. It’s pretty spectacular, when you think about it.

We’re women who care, about one another, certainly, but also about our lives and about the world. We care a lot about women’s education and are sorrowing that the college seems to have drifted into co-education without a by your leave. In a world where women’s lives are on the line, I believe in the power of women’s education. But that’s probably another day’s musing. Today, I’m under the gun to get home for church and then Bill-Town Blues. What a rich and privileged life I lead.

Love, Peace, and a great slow, summer Sabbath. Sweet music to you, my dears!

June Garden Peace, llvl

This year, we’re having the June we remember from our childhoods. Beautiful days, impressive storms and wild riotous gardens. I know, I know, I say this every season, because there’s always something beautiful, but there’s nothing quite like June. It’s awash in Possibility and in Purpose. It’s green, green, green.

I loved the solitary splendor of this iris. Vibrantly purple, less ornate than its cousin the bearded iris, it’s a simple stalk of Beauty. We’re transfixed. But that iris is simply doing it’s job. We see it as singular, but it’s one more beautiful bloom in the garden.

That’s who we’re meant to be, I think: Individuals, Fulfilling our own destiny in an abundant garden. Gorgeous blossoms in a sea of abundance. Bringing Beauty, bringing Peace, is not simply our job. We’re simply there to bring the Peace we can. We need to count on our neighbors to bring the Peace they can. We each have our own work.

In a small village, it’s easier to see both your work and your neighbor’s. We can understand how to help one another grow and flourish. We can see the payoff. But no matter how large or small your village, find a small group and get to work. Then let the movement build.

There are so many reasons the world needs our abilities to bring, Peace to bring Change. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the weight of things that are wrong in this world. And then, I remember. I live in a village. I live la vida local. I can make a small but important difference. If I do my part and you do yours and we encourage one another, pretty soon change can start… Remember, you’re a beautiful Iris in a sea of Peace. This is your season to shine. Start there.

More June Peace, llvl

The days continue to extend an invitation to come out into the world. It is flat out gorgeous! This pic has kept me enraptured all week. I was so happy to find the rhododendron festooning the forest with colors other than sun-dappled green this weekend.

Today the eagle was on the river shore across from Turrie and my breakfast place. Everybody was plastered to the window, watching. Share a moment like that and our differences melt away. The next time we meet, we’re friendlier, laughing more freely.

Softened edges make differences less obvious. and that’s a good thing.

go on, git out there! Peace.

Sweet June Peace, llvl

It’s hard to understand how lucky those of us who live here are. Yesterday, my half of my community went to the mountains for worship and hiking and playing. An hour from where I live is a state park filled with trails and waterfalls and forests that have rhododendrons just like this one lurking to surprise you with beauty.

Kids played in the (brrrr) lake, bluebirds (bluebirds!) twittered at us from the pavilion rafters, pretty healthy food was served (we are UUs after all).

Driving down off the mountain the vista over the valley was incredible. Everything was green and a surprising amount of land is undeveloped. Certain places along the road there is nothing to look at but canopy and sky.

I live here. I don’t get out often enough. And I certainly don’t get out and sit with my friends to visit, walk along a trail, or hop in a natural body of water anywhere often enough. And Why not? Why not fill up on Peace so that we can spread it. We live in beauty. Let’s get out and enjoy it. June’s perfect weather is fleeting.

June Peace Sabbath, llvl

It doesn’t get more beautiful than June in Central Pennsylvania. The trees are green the rivers are full and the skies are blue, blue, blue. Yes, the pollen’s high, but… it’s gorgeous nonetheless.

And it’s a day of rest and relaxation. Two church services this morning, I’m preaching the home game and Sara’s leading the away one out in the woods at a park filled with waterfalls and a gorgeous lake. Then many of us are rallying for lunch, a swim or a hike or both. (don’t be ridiculous, ann doesn’t hike!)

I hope you have wonderful plans today. And I hope it’s as lovely where you are. We’re having a perfect moment here in the Valley. And I’m going to revel in it.

When we have these perfect days, may we all enjoy — and come Monday, Sabbath over, get back to work protecting this beautiful world.

No meaning, just Joy on this beautiful Sabbath Day. Peace be with you all.

Memorial Sabbath Peace, llvl

An odd juxtaposition. On the one hand its my favorite day of the year. The pool opens for the summer.

On the other, it’s a memorial for all the soldiers from all the wars. Young men and women who because they believed in a cause volunteered and sacrificed. It was hard enough when the enemies were clear cut and the danger real. And now, governments decide and people are risked and no one at home, except the families, pays the price. Perhaps war has always taken people to ugly places, but now we’re seeing it all on tv.

And then, of course, war. And Peace. We’ve never found a good way to getting to Peace. One that cares for the victims. One that engages everyone.

For two weeks, since the Pete Seeger concert, I’ve had this song by Ed McCurdy on my heart:

“Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands end bowed their heeds
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

May we dream of Peace and not War. But let us never forget those who are lost to us, those who sacrificed. It’s the Sabbath. Let us take some quiet time in the day and remember. Let us take some quiet time and rededicate ourselves to Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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