gathering energies...

"give me that growth which some perchance deem sleep,
which, by the toil of gathering energies,
their upward way into clear sunshine keep,
until, by heaven's sweetest influences,
slowly and slowly spreads a speck of green..."

James Russell Lowell

windy swinging dark...

"Out in the garden,
Out in the windy, swinging dark,
Under the trees and over the flower-beds,
Over the grass and under the hedge border,
Someone is sweeping, sweeping,
Some old gardener.
Out in the windy, swinging dark,
Someone is secretly putting in order,
Someone is creeping, creeping..."

Katherine Mansfield

half lost...

"I sat staring, staring, staring - half lost, learning a new language or rather the same language in a different dialect. So still were the big woods where I sat, sound might not yet have been born..."

Emily Carr

grace and spirit...

"There are such beings in the world, perhaps one in a thousand, as the creature you and I should think perfection, where grace and spirit are united to worth, where the manners are equal to the heart and understanding..."

Jane Austen
(in a letter to Fanny Knight Chawton: Friday (Nov. 18, 1814)

optical delusion...

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty..."

Albert Einstein

I believe...

Sometimes I think that humans, have created God in their own image and likeness, instead of the other way around. I believe that the pain and loneliness of this life has spurred people to contextualize God in terms of themselves instead of being brave enough to imagine the unimaginable, that the force that created us might well be beyond our comprehension. Like kittens pulled too early from the teat, we are insatiably hungry and fearful. As if the love letter that we receive each day in the form of our existence were not enough, we become greedy for more affirmation and attention. Driven by the need to feel special, we create a fatherly image of God to love us, to guide us, to invite us over for Sunday dinner.

I believe that there exists within each of us the strength to live with this divine mystery, the ability to love and embrace the unknowable. The imperative to behave humanly, responsibly, with compassion and intelligence is something we all must evolve daily, we must act as both parent and child if we aspire to reflect and broadcast the love of God. To be grateful for this existence, to respect and protect this beautiful planet upon which we find ourselves, to love ourselves and our fellow beings, to be brave, compassionate, curious, careful and kind...

Lucy Meskill

bright angel...

for guilt by association
love takes the rap
caught running around with anger
love takes the rap
witness to betrayal
love takes the rap
like the driver in a holdup
love takes the rap
responsibility takes a vacation
love takes the rap
mixed often with hard liquor
love takes the rap
for never leaving the scene
love takes the rap
for saving us from suicide
love takes the slap
love is the messenger
that we often try to kill
as it waits for our answer
love is the innocent
we like to pin our crimes upon
love is the bright angel
that we dress in dirty clothing
mistaking it’s open hands
we label it a beggar
when it really holds the answer
to our unanswerable questions
love is the subtle gravity
that keeps our oxygen on earth…

Lucy Meskill