The Peace of Not What You Were Waiting For

Spring is so beautiful and so powerful. The force of life returning, reaching through cold soil for the sun is overwhelming and will not be stopped.

However, bits and pieces can be interrupted. This year, it was.

This magnificent magnolia was on her way. She was filled to the brim with dazzle, ready to delight.

But the freeze was insistent. Nothing personal. The freeze wasn’t thinking about the magnolia at all.

The freeze just won the weather battle that day, and the beautiful magnolia turned brown and withered away… The flowering beauty won’t appear until next year, weather willing.

And we’re left with the reality that life doesn’t always give us what we’re waiting for. The freeze has its own icy beauty. And we must make Peace with that.

Front Row Seats on Life and Peace

The show of Life changes. Every day. When I wrote this poem I didn’t expect the second picture. But Deb thought to go back and take it. So, first the surprise, then the musing.

Today’s my Sabbath, my sit back, review, and enjoy day. Today’s sky is bright and beautiful. I checked these forsythia yesterday afternoon as I was coming home, and the snow had melted and they were all perky again. Life has her own ways. We either get on board, or we miss the show.

Every day it’s a different Sunrise. Every day life is beautiful. Some days are black and white. Some days are filled with color. It’s on us to find the beauty in both. Pictures: worth a thousand words. So maybe i should stop and just say… Peace, my friends. Peace. Let’s make it. (Surprise!!!)

Capricious April Peace

If you’re going to love April, and why wouldn’t you, you’re going to have to put up with her wild mood fluctuations. I think of her as a young month. She’s always trying things out.

The seasons are still bickering — and April’s watching the way her skirts float in the breeze.

Everyone seems to be heartily tired of Winter, poor old dear, but she and Spring are still playing. She’ll sleep soon. I know Spring beguiled us in the month of March with warm weather. Everyone went out and and got their seeds started.

April doesn’t seem to care.

For me, April is a wonderful example of the need to be here now. She is what she is. And she is filled with Beauty. It is, it’s true, a Beauty all her own. But, oh! the Flowers! Let us rejoice in her wild mood swings and make Peace with her particular Beauty.

Might as well. She’s not going anywhere. I, however, am off on the hunt for the fields of grape hyacinth.

Asparagus Peace

We should all eat more vegetables. And this is a good reminder.

Because Asparagus. Spring.

Peace on Earth. Peace with the Earth. Eat green things. Celebrate Life. Celebrate Spring!

Peace.

Yellow Daffodil Peace

It is that time of year. I had to go drive along the North Branch of the Susquehanna yesterday. As much as I love Lewisburg, that’s my part of the river. I know how it reacts.

This time of year, as the road runs between the hill and the river, you drive past the beginnings of the forsythia. The forsythia stretches for a mile or two. Half the year it’s simply bramble; the other half, it’s green. Except for these astonishing two weeks when it’s gloriously yellow.

And these daffodils. Ha! it says to this snow. Ha! I will bloom bravely and defy what is leaving, however reluctantly. Winter is leaving. Spring is coming. They know their minuet intimately. It sometimes confuses us, but that’s not their problem. The seasons know the steps to the dance.

There’s a message in that for us I think… Peace. Make Peace. Declare Peace. Dance Peace. If our time is short, make our mark in Peace.

In the name of what we believe in, in the shadow of Ankara, Brussels, Paris, and on and on and on, let us pray and work for Peace. Let us Peace.

Spring Equinox! Sabbath Peace!

It was a dark and stormy day… never you mind, it’s still the Vernal Equinox! It’s still Spring.It is, as is every day, a sacred gift to be unwrapped and celebrated. Stand still and be amazed!

It’s my Sabbath, day to gather with my community, day of rest and reflection.

While it may not be the day that I do the most for Peace, it is the day I focus the most on it.

I love this sunrise pic because it’s such an everyday picture. It’s a reminder that every day matters. A new day dawns. What will we do with it? Every day arrives to be filled up with Peace or Sweetness, according to our whims.

We have such freedom here to do that. We’re not waking up in a war zone. We’re not waking up under someone else’s thumb. And yet we’re allowing our world to be filled up with such ugliness. Ugly rhetoric. Ugly actions. So let us make whatever small stands we can.

Every day. Everyday matters. Every day matters. Everyday Peace. Every day, Peace.

Sabbath Peace and Mischief

Angel dust. Seeds of Peace. Go right ahead and sprinkle the world liberally! It’s almost Spring and the soil is softening… They might just take root! And goodness knows we need sweet mischief; there’s plenty of the malicious kind going around.

You’ve seen this angel before in these pages. In every season, every background, she has a different look… Same angel… hmmm… maybe we’re seeing things differently!

But here we are, with this warmly out of season weather, nothing to do but get outside and get up to some Peace. Or avoid the rain that’s supposed to fall around, and stay inside and wonder what Peace you can get up to.

It’s so needed. There’s so much turmoil and discomfort. Let’s be the ones bringing Peace.

What if sprinkling Peace were a delightful and mischievous thing rather than a heavy obligation? What if we just went joyously into the world and made Peace.

Traveling Peace

I’m a homebody. Given enough books, I could stay at home a long time.

But every once in a while, there’s a scent in the air that beckons. The highway wants me and my soul wants to wander.

Weather and siren songs being what they are, they don’t usually mesh well with my work responsibilities. It’s odd, as well, because when i want that trip, i consider packing about an outfit and a half, maybe two, if the weather’s likely to change. Pack to go to a hotel? I need the big roller suitcase.

I’m not going anywhere, other than to my meeting at 9:45. and the one at one,and the one at three, and Poetry under the Paintings tonight.

But I tell you, the road calls. Someday when it calls, I will pack my bag, lock the door, and drive away for a while. Peace sometimes is found in leaving home, just as it is sometimes rediscovered in returning. Peace to you: you who are wandering, you who are staying. Peace.

A Big Ol’ Pile of Peace Dirt

Put a bunch of kids together on this pile of dirt, “arm” them with trowels and rakes and toys to play with, and it won’t matter if they speak the same language or not. Because they’ll be busy playing together.

Dirt. The new leveler.

Dirt. The new weapon for Peace.

Nothing but good times ahead until someone comes with the snack.

Yes, someone needs to have said “Play nice,” before they take them there; someone needs to intervene if the big kids start picking on the little ones — they’re children, not saints.

But all things being even, Peace will reign on the dirt pile and kids will have fun, and the mothers will laugh to see it be so.

Spring. Dirt. Clothes you can play in. Friends, old or new. No assignment other than to have a good time. Being young enough you don’t worry about getting your hands dirty. Peace. Sometimes it’s simpler than we think. Not always. but sometimes. If we let that happen.

Peace. Dirt. Spring.

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.

Tag Archives: seasons