
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
Quote: Rumi
Image: Jason Briscoe
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
Quote: Rumi
Image: Jason Briscoe
“Dawn is coming…… I step quietly from my bed, alive to the silences around me. This is the quiet time, the time of innocence and soft thoughts, the childhood of the day. Now is the moment when I must pause and lift my heart – now, before the day fragments and my consciousness shatters into a thousand pieces. For this is the moment when the senses are most alive, when a thought, a touch, a piece of music can shape the spirit and color of the day. But if I am not careful – if I rise, frantic, from my bed, full of small concerns – the mystical flow of the imagination at rest will be broken, the past and the future will rush in to claim my mind, and I will be swept up into life’s petty details and myriad obligations. Gone will be the openness that comes only to the waking heart, and with it, the chance to focus the spirit and consecrate the day. “
We rise to this day in anticipation. It is the first day of the new year in the Christian tradition. It is the first day of Advent.
May it begin with quiet time – time allowing for ‘ the openness that comes only to the waking heart’.
Quote: Kent Nerburn, Small Grace: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday life
Photo: David Kanigan
I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
Quote:John O’Donohue
Excerpt from ‘A Morning Offering’ found in his books,
To Bless the Space Between Us
Image: Killarney National Park, Co Kerry / Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world
Mary Oliver
‘while it is still dark’ Jan Richardson
The hours slowly past. The silence was deafening. After her Lord’s death, Mary and all those around her felt that creation had paused in inexplicable grief.
They were barely able to carry Jesus from the cross to a tomb before the Day of Preparation began. Mary was unable to perform the ritual bathing and anointing for burial and so she waited. In the silence.
At the start of the new day, before the sun began to rise, Mary ran to the tomb. It was still dark but her heart was heavy and her love great.
No one could have prepared her for the moments to come. Moments where the blur of vision before dawn caused fear, confusion and awe. Where had he gone? What was she to do?
She was brave and filled with conviction. Whatever had happened she would work to get answers. She would proclaim the truth before her. In his absence and his return, Mary remained open to God’s love however far away.
In the moments of dark-before-dawn Mary’s faith would be sealed.
While it is still dark