Sunday Best – February 19, 2023
This week has included preparation of a triumphant birthday cake made entirely of potato products for my dear nephew (tots, mashed, chip, and fry), and another made entirely of soft pretzels, croquembouche-style, for my dear sister. (There was a third, composed of fresh vegetables, but no one wants to claim that one.) So much to celebrate!
Dear friends,
As the winter tiptoes towards spring,
May we find a warm perch as the creek ice cracks.
May we bask in the joys of others.
May we be greeted with happy yelps.
May we scoop the first daffodils into a jar,
trusting their sunshine to lead us onward.
Sunday Best – February 12, 2023
This week I happened upon a video of a big cracked rock, all dusty and bashed up and completely unremarkable. Sooner than I could scroll past, the rock split in two, revealing the most glorious sight. Inside, it was gleaming and lustrous and endlessly deep. What looked like an ordinary boulder was really a huge orb of obsidian, glass born from volcanic fire.
Friends, we all get a little dusty over time, and life can bash us up, too.
How comforting to know that at our core, even when it doesn’t look it, or feel it – especially when it doesn’t look it, or feel it – we are glowing and glimmering.
At our core, we are stardust,
forged from the fire of the universe,
just waiting to crack open and shine.
Sunday Best – February 5, 2023
Things I appreciated this week:
- The flash of a cardinal in the bare lilac tree.
- The joy of running into an old friend on the street.
- The man in the park who warned me about the coming cold snap.
- The finding of my warmest hat, just in time.
- The goofy texts from my nephew, and sweet ones from my niece.
- The comfort of soup as the wind howls outside.
Tiny miracles all around.
Sunday Best – January 29, 2023
This coming week marks St. Brigid’s Day, welcoming the early spring. In New England this means that the sun will peek over the horizon before seven for the first time in months, which is indeed a hopeful sign.
What better time to share a blessing from the extraordinary John O’Donohue, who links longing and belonging in such a tender way?
In this season of abiding, may we recognize the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time. May this world gather us in its embrace.
For Belonging
– John O’Donohue
May you listen to your longing to be free.
May the frames of your belonging be generous enough for your dreams.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart.
May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.
May the sanctuary of your soul never become haunted.
May you know the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.
Sunday Best – January 22, 2023
The word “compromise” has always been tinged with weakness to me. After all, the whole idea is that each party is giving something up, and surely that is a close cousin to losing.
But this line of reasoning is a slippery slope, leading to the idea that common ground is somehow lesser, a watered-down version of our best potential.
What if common ground is really a window to the essential?
What if compromise steers us toward the greatest and most fundamental truths, the universal ingredients for thriving?
Our individual wants are many, but our common needs are few.
Common ground is not the murky average of disparate desires.
Common ground is not a marsh of squishy compromise.
Common ground is the highest ground.