… watching for the brushstrokes of God
Gratitude arises when we pay attention to the intricate connectivity of life, when we awake to the presence of everything around us that is so often hidden from our eyes, and the miracle of a living vibrant world gives us breath.
When does gratitude rise in you?
Why is being in nature so refreshing? I wonder if it has to do with the integrity or authenticity of nature where a rock is a rock, a tree is a tree and a chicken is a chicken in the midst of a world of artificial flavors, fake news, and pretend masks that vie for the spectacular or relevant or powerful.
How does nature restore your soul?
Come with me into the field of sunflowers, Mary Oliver invites in one of her poems, for their wonderful stories.
“…Don’t be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds –
each one a new life!
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy…. ~ Mary Oliver
What is your long work of turning?
Summer lets us enjoy the sweetness and flavors that explode from the culmination of seed and soil, sun and rain, watching and waiting. A gift!
What fruit are you nurturing this summer?
“Once people feel nourished and refreshed, they cannot help but be kind; just so, the world aches for the generosity of well-rested people.” ~ Wayne Muller
How does rest change you?
“Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos, we see despite all the chaos. It is … through the world of the imagination which takes us beyond the restrictions of provable fact, that we touch the hem of truth.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle
Have you touched the hem lately?
With the Eyes of the Heart 