Summer Breeze

"There is nothing in the Holy

that is not being revealed

100 percent right now."

-Gerald Hair

After spending the entire day wrestling with technology

I had the pleasure of sitting by my bedroom slider tonight,

listening to the rustling leaves and melodic windchimes

as they moved in the evening breeze. It's amazing how

calming the sounds of nature can be to a cranky old soul

such as myself. And all it takes is my stopping what I'm

doing, and noticing that all is holy.

Then I began to hum that old Seals & Croft song -

"Summer breeze makes me feel fine -

blowing through the jasmine in my mind."

(or lavender for Sequimites)

It was a respite-filled moment.

photo of dungeness bridge

Got Clotter?

"Clutter is stuck energy.

The word "clutter" derives from the Middle English word "clotter,"

which means to coagulate -

and that's about as stuck as you can get."

-Karen Kingston

There's a whole lot of coagulation going on in this photo!

(Expect more clutter quotes as I'm putting together a workshop

on Creating Sacred Space for August 20th in Port Townsend.)

Zoe's Feast

Have you ever seen the film Babette's Feast?  It's the story of a French refugee arriving at the door of 2 elderly and austere Scandinavian spinsters to work as their housekeeper and cook.  Babette works quietly for years before winning 10000 francs in a French lottery and instead of using the money to move back to Paris she spends all of it on the creation of a sumptuous banquet to end all sumptuous banquests in order to show her appreciation for her hosts and their congregation. 

Well tonight I had the taste of a Babette in the making.  Her name is Zoe, and she is the 13 year old granddaughter of my friend Donna.  She spent 2 days preparing an amazing meal for us. We began with a lovely bruschetta appetizer and then sat down to the main meal of stuffed ravioli and bacon wrapped shrimp and spinach salad.  Did I mention that Zoe made the ravioli from scratch?  Did I also mention that she makes up her own recipes?

Then we finished with a dessert of raspberry mousse with our initials created in chocolate.  (Mine is sideways in the picture.)  All I kept thinking was "Holy Food for Holy People".....you could taste the love.  And it was definitely a Eucharistic moment.  Thank you Zoe for sharing your creative gift.  May your passion for preparing such feasts continue as you bless all those who partake of such a grace as this.

If you can just keep your head...or not

One of the best parts of owning a Statuary

is that I can bring the orphans home.

I'm not sure why I like these three so much

but they make for pleasant company.

And they give a whole new meaning to Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If"....

"If you can keep your head when all about you

are losing theirs and blaming it on you;"

the church vs. change

another clever cartoon from dave walker!

befriending doubt

"Of course I have doubt.

I invite her over for dinner and then I send her on her way. I've befriended her.

If I'm an artist living an artist's life, doing these things,

then of course I will be visited by doubt.

If not, there would be something wrong.

She's my recurring house guest."

- Edward Field

Source: quoted in Writing and the Spiritual Life by Patrice Vecchione

from a recent inward/outward.

it's a small world after all

"The world is becoming smaller now,

to the degree that all parts of the world

are obviously part of yourself.

Thus, destruction of your enemy is

destruction of yourself."

- The Dalai Lama



Seed Throwing

Today's Gospel reading from Matthew was the familiar

Parable of the Sower and the Seed.

Do you recall the story of the seeds being tossed

upon all sorts of surfaces?

No decent farmer would plant seeds in rocks or thorns.

So was the sower ignorant of proper planting techniques? Wasteful?

Or just extravagantly Loving in allowing those seeds to land

where the wind blew,

knowing that one day there would be an abundant harvest?

Be ye a seed thrower this week.

You just can't give away too much of God's love!

art: Sadao Watanabe 1913-1996

spiral radiance

"May we be true to the creative life

you Breathe into us every moment

and may we live

in the spiral radiance of your love

forever."

-Dennis Rivers: 3rd stanza from

"A Prayer of Saint Francis of the Allegorian Galaxy"

off the path...

"When we are doing something because it is expected of us,

or to please somebody else,

or because we are afraid of somebody else,

we become further alienated from a sense of living authentically.

If we just keep living out a role that we know well,

the cost of that is to become increasingly cut off

from that which is in the collective unconscious;

that which not only nourishes us, but also provides the raw material

that allows us to mess up.

Very often in transition periods, that's exactly what is called for,

a change by going through chaos,

of losing the way,

of being lost in the forest for some time

before we get through and find our path again."

- Jean Shinoda Bolen

Cell Rage

No matter how mindful, holy, or present I can possibly be it all goes to hell in a handbasket after spending an hour and a half being transferred 6 times at Verizon Wireless.  Where is my compassion?  Well it flew out the window after the first hour of being told that my call was important and that the next available operator would take care of my needs.  Did I mention the 3 hang-ups?   I'd like to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama deal with a phone tree and keep his cool, know what I mean?

P.S. I have to admit the operator that is now helping me is wonderful and apologetic about all the transfers.  And yes, I am treating him kindly, which is always an amazing feat for an "8"........

one can never receive too many blessings

"May the Maker's blessing be yours,

encircling you round

above you

within you.

May the angels' blessing be yours

and the joy of the saints

to inspire you

to cherish you.

May the Son's blessing be yours,

the wine and the water,

the bread and the stories

to feed you

to remind you.

May the Spirit's blessing be yours,

the wind, the fire,

the still small voice

to comfort you

to disturb you.

And may my own blessing be yours -

a blessing rooted in our common pilgrimage,

the blessing of a friend."

from

The Pattern of Our Days,

Worship in the Celtic Tradition

from the Iona Community

edited by K. Galloway

p. 157

photo of Iona Abbey