Father Sky came down to kiss Mother Earth this morning
Reassured by the sacred union,
the hard worry in my heart softened.
The affection walked beside me around the field.
I let it inside.
Opened wide and deep,
my lungs embraced the cool moist air.
Momentarily I held its love,
Then gradually I released it to the life around me.
Going, going, gone.
Live water
cradle of life
forever and ever live
Speak wind
voice of Spirit
quiet the mind’s tongue
touch our attention
so we hear your counsel
Reach sun
warm distant souls
turn their faces
towards the light
Love earth
Mother that carries life
all we need to live
forgive us
Think mind
know your thoughts
be free
Open heart
close the wounds
of humanity
heal us
Creator
help us remember
how to be a good relative
help us
What I am is a short, stocky white women of Polish descent with silver hair. The what is external. Who I am is a strong women that knows her worth, whose Spirit travels the Red Road with an open heart and mind. The who is internal.
Understanding the distinction between the two can be difficult. The mind only sees the what in our relatives. To know who people are you have to open the eyes in your heart. Those eyes are accepting and compassionate. They give us keen (in)sight.
Vision from this powerful place of perception, where the eyes of our heart and mind see as one, we see through humanness. We begin to appreciate others for who they are.
We remember how to be a good relative.
Walks with Wally in the open field are unconstrained. His boundary tethered to trust. Obedient to ghostly trails of scent, nothing stops the pursuit except one thing. My booming voice echoing, “BACK!”, over the land. He seemed to know the precise moment to come in my sights. Right before panic could set in. It was the way he returned, his joy knowing no bounds, that made me believe love and not fear brought us together.
I often followed him to that place of freedom. Flushing out unopened places in my mind. Meandering through tight thickets of thought. Like Wally I went about it unhurried and unworried.
Now that Wally carries the heaviness of age, he’s more often than not a few steps behind than a few yards ahead. In his energetic youthful days, he’d pause occasionally to glance back. Confirming my pace as either keeping up or falling behind. Adjusting accordingly. I now faithfully return the favor to my dear friend.
Wally’s devotion runs as wide and deep as an old river. Together we have walked in beauty, in the darkness that haunts the light and in each other souls. Together is all Wally and I have. Our time together is all I will remember.
Believe in love and not fear.
Together is all we have.
All of us—together— it’s all we have.
Time will remember.
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
A dear friend and I started a grateful practice some years back. Gosh, it must be six or seven years now. Everyday we email each other five things that gave us gratitude. Somedays it’s more. After all this time, the gratitude is a flow of thoughts easily put into words. I don’t wonder about what to write. It’s just there. Take joy from something today. Open gratitude’s gate and life in all its fullness will come in.
On this thankful Thursday I am grateful for…
the bright sunshine burning off the cold from the snow and my soul
the winged one’s song of spring filling up the woods this morning
good dogs walking by my side. Those here in physical form and those I feel in Spirit
believing in what I believe in
time enough in this day…this hour…this moment to create what it is I want
Nothing in nature remains full.
Everything contains openness.
When you are open you never feel empty.
