Find the Peace: Right Here and Now

Tiny little pieces of Peace can be right in front of us. It’s our job to recognize them. The Beauty that exists in our world is an invitation to notice and share the wonder.

There’s a moment of Peace for us when we notice the wonder. There’s another when it’s shared. In that mutual moment, there is Peace between people. We need to look more widely and more deeply to find the Beauty and the Wonder and appreciate it. We need to share what we notice others. How is it that we don’t do more of this? We are built to be amazed. It might be healthy to keep stretching our capacity for Wonder at the glories of this World.

Natural Beauty is free for the gasping! Created Beauty may not be free but should be shared as widely as possible.

Practice Wonder. It’s practicing Peace. It may be its most important spiritual discipline.

Ahh… Full Snow Moon Peace

“I was up all night,” my friend said. “The Moon (on the breast of the new-fallen snow) was so beautiful. How could you sleep?

Cold, cold night. Cold, bright, beautiful Moon and a couple of dazzling planets. And stars galore.

It’s enough to make you stop and catch your breath in wonder.

And anything that makes us stop and catch our breath in wonder, is a thing that connects us all. And that’s where Peace can begin to fill up the spaces between us. Another beautiful moon tonight, if the clouds let us see it. But beauty all around!

Here’s to you and snow and wonder and full Moons and Peace.

Wonder and Peace

It’s morning and time to be about the day! I have a busy day filled with work and pleasure.

I’m going to work today at seeing everything I do as privilege.

I love my job and I’m privileged to do it.

I get to hear wonderful music.

I have dinner with a friend.

All in all, pretty wonderful.

What’s your day look like? How can you turn the conversation in your head from the immense amount of things you need to accomplish — and do you really need to accomplish those things or simply want to — to the privilege of being in life doing wonderful things.

Is laundry wonderful, you ask? Yes. We have clothes and we have a washer and a drier to accomplish a difficult task. And my favorite part of the laundry is the accomplish part. Laundry: you take a big ol’ pile of stuff and turn it into a folder pile of clothes to wear.

So if you have things to finish do that. If you have time to fritter away, do it mindfully. Be present to the day.

See the Wonder in your life. Embrace the Peace.

Mystery, Wonder, Joy, Awe — Peace!

We need to keep paying attention! Mystery abounds — if only we look for it!

Moments like this happen — and they can be a jolt to remind us that Beauty and Awe and Wonder and Joy are alive and well in this world. And where they are, there can Peace be also.

But we have to notice and take the time to experience the Mysterious and the Beautiful. And then we have to use that glory to work for Peace.

The world offers us so many reasons and so much encouragement. Why not use them for good? Let’s Peace, for all the right reasons!

Let us Build Peace for the Babies

Dagny, who takes these critter pics, is a large animal vet. We don’t see (or haven’t so far) the intimate messy details of her work, but she does offer us the wonderful gasp of wonder with this tiny preemie llama.

And it’s true that at the same time I’m oohing and ahing over the red-coated llama, FB is also allowing me to breathlessly watch my friends’ tiny, tiny baby insist on life while the two of them fall in love.

New life. It’s astonishing and fragile and so, so precious.

When we see it, when we look at it and allow ourselves to be seduced by the wonder, then I think we need to put the world to rights. Those precious fragile babies deserve Peace.

If we’re caught by their deliciousness, human and critter… then we need to build a world for them that reflects a commitment to their growing into their potential. Babies deserve Peace. Llama babies. Human babies. Aardvark babies. Babies. Peace.

Books and Peace of Mind (and Heart)

Books have always been my friends. They are my teachers. They are my respite. They roil my mind and they soothe my soul.

I read things that are good for me and things that are good for nothing but a sweet hour away. I have discovered wonder, uncovered facts that changed everything I know to be true, and laughed myself silly.

What an amazing invention. People think and write things and you get to know what those things are. It’s amazing when you think about it. People you don’t know. People who live across the world. People who have been dead for centuries.

They’re a problem because they do seem to pile up around my house. Not as quickly as they used to do, since I keep the fluff on the kindle… but still.

What fascinates me, saddens me is that people use them to disseminate hate. Such sacred things, books, and people desecrate them. I know, they are dealing with their truths… which i decry as untruths… but there you are.

It’s many a book that has been toted around by me, many that have become part of my bedding, changed with the sheets. Books that I have reread, books I have tossed across the room in disgust, books that have place of pride on my bookcases, until they’re passed along to someone else.

I don’t know about you, but I’d do better to bring them in, read them, cherish them, and let them go…

But, oh, oh, oh, the Peace! Books are a wonderful thing in my life.

When the Sabbath Peace Slowly Dawns

I love the notion that even the Sun doesn’t make a big to do every day. Some days sunrise is just a quiet “this is what we do” event.

For me Sundays are both days of work and days of wonder. Because somehow, I managed to build a life where my work is the seeking of wonder. Part of my weekly responsibility is remembering the Sabbath, calling attention to it, helping everyone remember that it matters.

I have to tell you, it’s pretty great.

I wish that for you. Wonder is a lovely companion.

This week I have the labyrinth and Dark Moon to look forward to as well. A day dedicated to Peace. A day of friends, shared meals and quiet conversation. A day of fun things to read. If I’m lucky, a little raucous laughter. And why not be lucky.

Days don’t have to start in a blaze of Glory to be filled with Peace. The Peace is there. We just have to meet it.

Appreciating Advent; Appreciating Peace

I, like many of us, find it easy to complain. Everything falls short of our expectations — and sometimes our expectations are abysmally low. But sometimes things are just fine and we’re just whiny. It’s important to notice what works and to appreciate, even celebrate, those things.

Advent is one of those times when we are asked to look back — in wonder, perhaps? Turning a critical eye on things doesn’t just mean noticing what isn’t right, it means noticing what what works and what’s easy and wonderful.

If people believe you see them for who they are as wonderful bits of creation, they will dig deep and behave that way more frequently. All of that from a little honest appreciation.

We can do this. We can notice what is right with our world and build on that.

Let us appreciate what we have and work for more. Let us work for Peace.

Alternative Advent – December 14: 15¢ if you have cooking pots. hmmm have or use?

Remembering the Peace of Advent

One of the hard truths about this time of year is that we are forced to confront what we may have missed, or have lost. For some of us, those of us who are very privileged, the holidays have been sweet, families have been united and traditions have traveled between the generations. But even those people have lost beloved family members who are no longer there.

It takes a while to recalibrate. It takes a while to decide to focus not on what i don’t have but on what is there. It’s important for me to honor the heart of the holidays, both religiously and communally. But it’s also time to cut out the pieces of the holiday that no longer fit.

I love to think of the root of the word remembering … to re-member, to piece back together. To take the remnants of the good and to make something beautiful from it.

It takes a while to demand (of yourself) the space to celebrate holidays in your image in a fashion that suits you. But you are worthy of that. If you’re alone, find other people who also are. Or celebrate another holiday and make that yours until you can reclaim your own for yourself.

Remember the holidays… Feel free, not to long for what you once believe you had, but to create that which celebrates the deepest possibilities of life. Savor the Dark. Explore the Mystery. Be amazed by the Wonder. Gather with those who love you as you are — even if that means you’re alone and loving yourself fiercely.

Allow your holidays to be filled with Peace. Share that with others. Remember. Make that cloak of beautiful memories and move forward with joy. Peace be with you. Peace be with us all.

Alternative Advent December 12 – 15¢ if you have dishes in your house. There are actually people in our Susquehanna Valley who do not. So be generous. if you have more than one set, try 15¢ per set.

Waiting for Advent; Waiting for Peace

Advent is a time of Anticipation and Expectation. Peace must be that as well. It must be a wondered waiting to see what will emerge.

Waiting doesn’t come easy. But when you’ve set up and are ready but Godot hasn’t arrived, then you just have to wait. You can find wonderful ways to pass the time, but you can’t hurry the process.

So, do your work, and then engage yourself in life, and keep encouraging — but do not force. Wait on the world, it has so much beauty to show you.

Today’s Alternative Advent suggested donation is 5¢ for every bed.

Every bit of Peace’s coming into being is a challenge — one that is well worth the waiting and watching. Enjoy the Peace Process. Enjoy Advent.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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