Category: gratitude

I Sing A Song… (revised and reposted)

20121101-024758.jpg Artwork taken from here

“And one was a doctor, one was a queen, one was a shepherdess on the green”

This verse is part of the hymn, I Sing a Song of the Saints of God, which is often sung in churches (especially Episcopal) on All Saints Day. I come to this Sunday, each year, in quiet awe of all the blessed people etched into the heart of our faith. This heart is strong and ever-growing. Each year more holy ones move into its beating space, ready to offer us their own story. We are renewed and encouraged by their example and wisdom – these people are known to us as saints.

There are many saints who lived long ago, and then there are the ‘saints’ we have known in this life. Humbled, I name a few; Jon, Bob, Doris, Fran, Sue, David, Mattie, Matthew, Vickie, Eva, Sam, Sid and Beth. Some new names and some whose memory remains bright. It is good to have this holy day of All Saints.

For one day of the year, I rest my need to figure out the mysteries of God and faith. I start the day with a promise to spend time remembering each saint as they come to mind. Ever thankful for their presence in my life – bright examples of God’s creativity, each called to reflect God’s sacred light.

A day to walk with the saints who have gone before us. A day filled with moments of surprise and tender memories. So I put on my comfortable shoes(wheels), carry some extra Kleenex, and start into the day singing:

“For the saints of God are folk just like me, And I mean to be one too.”

Reference – “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” is a Christian hymn written in Britain by Lesbia Scott and first published in 1929.

Sacred Bond

Photo by Bp. Brian Prior

“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend, protect, and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.”

Several friends take amazing pictures of the earth as they see it. Through their eyes, I know this sacred bond, between them and the nature they continue to explore. Each image is like a window – reflecting insight and offering space for connection to the beauty around us.

It can be challenging to slow the pace enough to see this beauty, if even out of the corner of one’s eye. We rush from one thing to the next. In between, we focus on screens – screens we hold our hands. Twitter, Facebook, Messages, and Emails, often with us everywhere we go – distracting – and (almost always by choice) giving us little time to calm down and revel in creation. A creation that includes each of us.

Do we really believe that creation includes us? What does it mean to be a part of creation?

Quote- Robin Wall Kimmerer
Photo: Bp. Brian Prior

 

Disability pride month…

Yesterday we celebrated #ADA33 and July is #DisabilityPrideMonth! So this is an important time for many of us. We have spent much of our lives working to make it possible for people with disabilities to live and work independently within their communities and beyond.

Judy Heumann dedicated her life as an advocate and mentor in the disability community. She worked to pass laws, such as the ADA, and she tirelessly encouraged many people throughout the country and the world. As a tribute to the life and work of Judy Heumann -the song and video, “Lift Me Up”, was released this week.

We have come a long way since I was born with a disability. I am honored to have worked alongside so many diverse people. People who have created a vibrant Disability Culture. As Gaelynn Lea so graciously said, “Thank you to all of the change-makers…” – there is still work ahead. But for a moment, I share this video to celebrate what has been accomplished!

https://youtu.be/zmr4H9NpTKk
Sorry! This product is not available for purchase at this time.

Sweet dreams…

“It can be a comfort sometimes to know that there is a world which is purely one’s own — the experience in that world, of travel, danger, happiness, is shared with no one else,”

Quote: Graham Greene from A World of My Own: A Dream Diary

Image: Judith Clay from Thea’s Tree

 

quote and image from The Marginlian by Maria Popova

It’s still possible

 

IT’S STILL POSSIBLE

It’s still possible to fully understand
you have always been the place
where the miracle has happened:
that you have been since your birth,
the bread given and the wine lifted,
the change witnessed and the change itself,
that you have secretly been, all along,
a goodness that can continue
to be a goodness to itself.
It’s still possible in the end
to realize why you are here
and why you have endured,
and why you might have suffered
so much, so that in the end,
you could witness love, miraculously
arriving from nowhere, crossing
bravely as it does, out of darkness,
from that great and spacious stillness
inside you, to the simple,
light-filled life of being said.

Quote: David Whyte, excerpt From STILL POSSIBLE
in ‘Still Possible.’
Many Rivers Press Jan 1st, 2022
https:www.amazon.com/Still-Possible-David-Whyte

Image: Evening Light © David Whyte
Nosara. Costa Rica
January 21st 2022