Reflection for August 31, 2011

My Life in Art

What makes up the painting of my life? The painters have been many and varied.

It started with the background color laid down by those who came long before me.

Outlines were drawn in by my parents. Bright colors were added by good friends and family in strokes broad and delicate.

Shadows and dark areas came from others.

To discomfort, sadness, loss, gain joy, and beauty I owe depth and texture.

Some came along and added stunning contrasts, others soothing neutral tones.

A Larger Hand seemed to have provided the overall composition.

I am not a passive canvas, but an active participant in this my life. At times I have been able to take a heavy dark line and transform it into a lighter, more balanced detail and other times have unnecessarily darkened a detail.

This work in progress has been made possible by many who have contributed in ways large and small. I thank them all.

Reflection for August 24, 2011

Reflection for August 17, 2011

To be alive

in this beautiful, self-organizing universe –

to participate in the dance of life

with senses to perceive it,

lungs that breathe it,

organs that draw nourishment from it –

is a wonder beyond words.

Joanna Macy

Reflection for August 10, 2011

Restless for Peace

JVR

Grieving woman,

Color falls with you,

Attracting birds of peace.

Reflection for August 3, 2011

Primary Wonder

Days pass when I forget the mystery.

Problems insoluble and problems offering

their own ignored solutions

jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber

along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing

their colored clothes; caps and bells.

And then

once more the quiet mystery

is present to me, the throng's clamor

recedes: the mystery

that there is anything, anything at all,

let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,

rather than void: and that, O Lord,

Creator, Hallowed one, You still,

hour by hour sustain it.

--Denise Levertov