tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42382142365799096882024-03-13T15:49:39.244-07:00everyday wonder in a nut shell"He showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut,...
I thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it could last,...I thought because of its littleness, it would suddenly have fallen into nothing. ,...
It lasts and always will, because God loves it; and thus everything has being through the love of God."
Julian of NorwichHazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.comBlogger280125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-25496694815487879462018-12-18T15:37:00.002-08:002018-12-19T05:06:13.729-08:00 Hold Back the Tide of Fear and Rejoice<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9HGKmKfsCocxzw4F2OvGK-JzbOGo2HiyB8mJPEiDCaabUlkqd1TlxFoiKWN_X8hwdjtpFhxw1fvMGbIRQjkhmdWxNig7AEZqirADU03eWdp4XSFcyLDEXcj72QrDPstHkFkD9aWSthyE/s1600/081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9HGKmKfsCocxzw4F2OvGK-JzbOGo2HiyB8mJPEiDCaabUlkqd1TlxFoiKWN_X8hwdjtpFhxw1fvMGbIRQjkhmdWxNig7AEZqirADU03eWdp4XSFcyLDEXcj72QrDPstHkFkD9aWSthyE/s640/081.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and hubby<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b>WISHING YOU A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS</b></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Yesterday I was reminded by somebody that I used to write a blog. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It is a very long time since I posted anything and<br />
I doubt if anybody will read this blog now.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Since last writing I have been quite ill,<br />
and now struggle with a chronic sickness as well as the advancing years.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Though my life before that had hardly been easy<br />
this has been an especially tough time.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I am finding it hard to navigate this latest bit of the path as<br />
things change so much from day to day and there is no doubt about it,<br />
my physical condition affects my ability to stay positive.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Yet the advent invitation to rejoice makes so much sense.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
More and more I realise I have the choice between anxiety and rejoicing.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I cannot change my circumstances<br />
but when I even so much as silently speak the word "Rejoice"<br />
into the anxious knot that is increasing my breathlessness,<br />
my whole body responds.<br />
At the centre of myself I relax, open, and make room<br />
for a spirit other than<br />
the fear that can so easily hold sway.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So, even knowing nobody will read this, I have to bring myself to account and say<br />
I will continue to find a place of rejoicing within myself.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As Billy Connelly said the world was made to be joyous,( and indeed I believe it was),</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the more I/we can add to those joyous vibrations the more we are truly</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
going with the flow of creation.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't really think of anything better to do at this point in history can you,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
my non existent reader?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">May the Blessing of Rejoicing </span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">hold us in good stead</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"> against the fear the world would heap upon us.</span></i></b><br />
<br />
To help lift us in this hectic season here is a traditional and well loved Christmas carol<br />
from Christ's College, Cambridge<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rc5bh6gotsQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rc5bh6gotsQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
Then, for something completely different and every season,<br />
give yourself a moment to adjust,<br />
take a deep breath,<br />
and if you really feel like bopping and rejoicing,<br />
maybe join in this upbeat worship song .<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgoKufOWtg4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dgoKufOWtg4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-5015761901419007062018-08-19T11:53:00.001-07:002018-08-19T12:44:54.184-07:00True Romance - Not Always as Grateful as I Could Be<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Watching Sleepless In Seattle for the umpteenth time.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hubby is sitting in his usual seat across from me as we watch television together.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You will find us this way most evenings now we are older.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It suits us;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">especially as one of hubby's favourite quotes come from Hardy's</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Far From the Madding Crowd,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when Gabriel Oak tells Bathsheba Everdene all he wants for the future is that ,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">" </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">at</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> home by the fire, whenever </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">you look up there</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> I </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">shall</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> be</span><wbr style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"></wbr><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">— and whenever I </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">look up</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">there will</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> be </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">you</span>."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, he is an old romantic, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and nothing we have been through in our almost 56 years of marriage has changed him,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He remains the same to the extent that even now, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when he is often full of pain, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and I ask,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Are you alright?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he replies as he always has,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">" I am with you aren't I?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as if that settles the matter.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For so long I have taken his response for granted.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just Bill being Bill.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now as I realise more and more how swiftly our days together are flying</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">they seem the most precious words I could hear.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlE4neTGcefsDbY3xfNv8tuRXbsIFqPjuJavdIxVfZs233Kw__lrtjFxXJBwn39fDAp1lSznHHOGTrAbM5RTLa-9BkRJBeK9hJGYxBGEUb4lS5KrZTZ94Xctlut4-XVTmV2WPBRcD3Tcn/s1600/Doro+phone+images+692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="332" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlE4neTGcefsDbY3xfNv8tuRXbsIFqPjuJavdIxVfZs233Kw__lrtjFxXJBwn39fDAp1lSznHHOGTrAbM5RTLa-9BkRJBeK9hJGYxBGEUb4lS5KrZTZ94Xctlut4-XVTmV2WPBRcD3Tcn/s320/Doro+phone+images+692.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-13771626403795876312016-08-08T04:59:00.002-07:002016-08-08T05:11:12.315-07:00Looking for Home<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibaxVdtmh2bN-cx9EiH27mD4Qcy0Jv5upeNPLp-kd1RTSuduSZEZfZr25ev9CyCEVR3N6eTICzKAn5JjLVWnIFTT-Eph0hE1ep8PgNelxX3kw2zax4q4hiRubzFheiA5ElCm8oawQFmaN/s1600/dining+room+meditation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibaxVdtmh2bN-cx9EiH27mD4Qcy0Jv5upeNPLp-kd1RTSuduSZEZfZr25ev9CyCEVR3N6eTICzKAn5JjLVWnIFTT-Eph0hE1ep8PgNelxX3kw2zax4q4hiRubzFheiA5ElCm8oawQFmaN/s640/dining+room+meditation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evening meditation time in our dining room.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Months since I</span> <span style="font-size: large;">posted anything. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> M</span><span style="font-size: large;">onths during which we didn't </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">actually make a progress around many churches </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to find a new spiritual family, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as we had thought we would during Lent.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We could have made our home at either of the two we <em>did</em> visit,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> but seemed to have settled on the one nearest to us,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and furthest away </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">from the tradition </span><span style="font-size: large;">those who thought they knew us</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> would have expected. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> For me the "bells and smells" felt like a coming home at last,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and the sense of reverence, </span><span style="font-size: large;"> and time</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> to absorb the healing scripture enfolded in the liturgy</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> were just what I yearned for. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> I am not sure hubby feels quite the same, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">though I know he appreciates the depth of it as much as I do,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and we both love the people.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We have not been able to be as involved as we might like,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> mostly due to my continuing illness, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which began way back at the end of April, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and shows no signs of shoving off just yet. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> It began as a heavy chest cold and has progressed from there to breathlessness, temperature, general weakness,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">antibiotics, and now, </span><span style="font-size: large;">being on my third course of steroids,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> it has definitely outstayed it's welcome. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> So no church for the last few weeks and odd absences before that. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> In one way this is no hardship for me, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as I see the day to day presence</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> of the indwelling Spirit as the mainstay,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> not a weekly appearance at a building, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but in another there is the need to be gathered </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with a family of faith somehow.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> So, I guess what I am saying is</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> there is still a sense of homelessness </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and I am not sure how it will be resolved. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Set against my keen sense of flux in the Churches' </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(meaning church universal), </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">situation in the world</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I find this exciting,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> as all liminal places are.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am reminded of Jesus saying to Philip,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em>Have I been so long with you, and (yet) you have not come to know Me, Philip? </em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There always seems such a depth of promise, as well as regret in those words don't you think?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> So much more to learn, to know, and to live...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Blessings</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">P.S. Lest the photo at the top of the post seems a bit "holy" or out of touch, it really is an example of how spirituality is at the heart or "home" of our lives, as it was taken just as I finished my time of quiet and left the room to watch a live television performance of Mrs Brown's Boys, the humour of which can only be described as "earthy". </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> We need the sublime and the ridiculous for wholeness don't we? </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-91152405860949919542016-02-14T09:25:00.001-08:002016-02-14T09:33:26.215-08:00Into The Wilderness -Leaving what we know and have relied upon<div style="text-align: center;">
This year Lent has taken on a particular and special meaning for me,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as it coincides with my husband and I setting out</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from the church we have known as our spiritual family for a long time,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on a journey of discovery which, at the moment anyway,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
feels like a true setting out into the wilderness.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We do not know where we are being led,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
only that we must let go of where we have been,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>really let go,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
before we can discover where we are meant to be.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
What makes this journey of discovery even more interesting,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(for interesting read difficult!), </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is that there are two of us.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Two very different people,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
each on their own intensely personal pilgrimage of faith,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hoping and trusting we will be brought to a place </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we will both recognise as "home".</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The fact that we have been brought to this moment together</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is a hopeful sign of that synchronicity of the Spirit that is all we look for.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Because this is still so new, and I grieve for fellowship we have left<br />
I felt I wasn't ready to start out on our search yet,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but hubby wanted to attend an evening communion<br />
at a local Anglican church on Ash Wednesday, so it seemed fitting to go. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In doing so we are starting our search with the words which accompany<br />
the moment when the sign of the cross was traced on our foreheads<br />
with ash, signifying repentance.<br />
<br />
<i>"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.</i><br />
<i> Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ."</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>*</i><br />
Throughout my life I know that it is not my faithfulness,<br />
but the faithfulness of a God who has actively sort me,<br />
and led me,<br />
that has mattered,<br />
and it is this that I rely upon.<br />
<br />
My one prayer is perfectly expressed by this worship song.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></b></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDgLzhofceo" width="459"></iframe><br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-84558602362999238742016-02-09T05:06:00.002-08:002016-02-09T05:40:58.730-08:00Celandine Morning Prayer<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQ1zuzlexwiQcn8gqkCY1m-g7mQjtvw2yTPpV9fCAkHaK9lIwA_3Eh2k93w_ODucR-5P3g8Awlpg7QW2oKkbQEmBcUySJK4ItjbRoczqwONUHwrvJpu8Pabszjeh5bJJhcLrLQIWgLq4_/s1600/lesser-celandine-colony-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQ1zuzlexwiQcn8gqkCY1m-g7mQjtvw2yTPpV9fCAkHaK9lIwA_3Eh2k93w_ODucR-5P3g8Awlpg7QW2oKkbQEmBcUySJK4ItjbRoczqwONUHwrvJpu8Pabszjeh5bJJhcLrLQIWgLq4_/s640/lesser-celandine-colony-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2012/04/05/lesser-celandine/<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This morning for the first time for an age the rain has stopped lashing down <br />and the gale wind has dropped.<br />The sun is out,<br />so of course I am off into the garden to put washing on the line.<br /><br />As I scan the borders noting the premature signs of spring, as well as the storm damage<br /> I spot the hardy celandines returning, <br />despite my best efforts to root them out each year.<br /><br />I love to see their shining faces in the woodlands and hedgerows.<br />In the garden though, they form close knit rafts<br />overwhelming everything in their path;<br />weaving themselves into roots of perennials and shrubs alike, <br />so there is nothing else to do but dig everything up and separate them out-<br />and then replant. <br />Hard work, and increasingly, more than I can do.<br /><br />Before I knew it I had my fingers into the cold wet muddy earth,<br />wheedling down the white thread-like stems to the root,<br /> then cupping them out between my fingers, little balls of earth and all.<br />Strangely, even as I did so,<br /> I was filled with wonder and respect at the resilience of life that pushes up,<br /> again and again.<br />There in the cold mud my heart sang to the source of life.<br /><br />You who I know as Life,<br /> upholding all,<br />never turning away,<br />never failing,<br />but seeking always new ways to break out<br />and show yourself;<br />filling all created things with an expression of yourself<br />and calling forth the new in every moment,<br />fill us with such a force of life we cannot hold it in,<br />growing strong in the true and pure proclamation of you<br /> we are uniquely made to be,<br />even in our suffering, brokenness, ambition, and frailty.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-54557527002023613532016-02-01T16:43:00.000-08:002016-02-02T03:59:47.157-08:00The First day of Spring? <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Watching the moving news footage of a boat load of refugees </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
being rescued from a sinking vessel off the coast of Samos,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I witnessed their utter joy.<br />
My heart ached As I thought about the long struggle still lying ahead</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in their long search for a new, safer, and better, life. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I couldn't help but wonder if,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on the hard path which still lies ahead of them</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
they may be tempted to look back at their moment of rescue</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as a bitter beacon of false hope, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
serving only to mark their passage into some new darkness; </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or will they be able to use their memory of that moment</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to strengthen them in the belief </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that the promise of the new, and the good,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is still possible, and within their grasp.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Today, the first of February, is St. Brigid's day.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The day marked by the Celtic church,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the middle of winter,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the first day of spring!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It was now, that Celtic spirituality chose to look </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
beyond the cold bleak days they were still enduring</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to take account of the buds becoming full,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the pure white snowdrops, (an emblem of St. Brigid),</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
breaking from the dark earth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In short, they looked to the re-awakening of all things</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the light returned, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the days lengthened on their patch of the good earth. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We may know how it is to try and hold on in some winter gloom that has settled in us,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to have unfulfilled hopes which once burned bright,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but have all but been extinguished.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is there some hope, or promise, you feared was lost</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that rises up in you now</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
crying out to shine into life and springtime newness ?<br />
Is there something suggesting itself<br />
you could do right now<br />
to give yourself the new impetus you need?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
+</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I love the words of John 1:4</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which assure us that at the heart and meaning of our life,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the very centre of our being,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is a Christ light shining.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
May your hope be re-kindled, and come to the full light of it's dawning,<br />
so your unique expression of the Christ light within you will shine forth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as surely as the winter light will lengthen into spring. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
+</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you follow this blog you will know how I love this song by Luka Bloom.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't Be afraid Of The Light That Shines Within You.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N8It3VIZLnI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N8It3VIZLnI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Listen And Be Blessed</span></i></b></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-14318591527441371032016-01-04T02:53:00.001-08:002016-01-04T04:30:04.624-08:00Taking Our Place for the New Year<div style="text-align: center;">
YOU DON'T NEED TO PUSH THE RIVER,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY IN THE RIVER. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
GOD'S LIFE OF LOVE IS BEING LIVED WITHIN YOU,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
AND YOU MUST SIMPLY LEARN TO SAY YES TO LIFE.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These words from Father Richard Rohr seemed so pertinent,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I posted them on my facebook page as a start to the new year.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Saying yes to life isn't always that easy of course,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and to do so we must really trust that "life" knows what it is doing.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even for those who know the one who called himself</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the way, the truth, and the life, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
there is the deep pull to rely upon oneself when all is said and done. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
There is always that little voice suggesting, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
God helps those who help themselves.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and<br />
If I don't get this done who will? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Right?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhipIaI-ZvEtzvKzTqfysuI1ir8WiCyNsthYSSEyA7xX60QierEEsYpljbiUaS8u2tQ1q-be5k498G1HUeUKYJqedEYZLEjqGvSGrHdtjMa2-V8U35L7k0HkN11FMBpX0XHnTrrEV7Nqf/s1600/IMG-20140912-01642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhipIaI-ZvEtzvKzTqfysuI1ir8WiCyNsthYSSEyA7xX60QierEEsYpljbiUaS8u2tQ1q-be5k498G1HUeUKYJqedEYZLEjqGvSGrHdtjMa2-V8U35L7k0HkN11FMBpX0XHnTrrEV7Nqf/s640/IMG-20140912-01642.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This is the bridge over the river Monnow at Skenfrith</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which sits beside the excellent Bell Inn. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When it was still a quiet country pub,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the landlord had an old dog who used to suffer greatly when the weather got hot.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To escape the heat he would wade into the river, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and stand for hours at a time with the water swirling around him,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
just down stream of the central arch of the bridge,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
always facing upstream.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Always towards the source.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Today, and every day, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we may have little or no time to stand still, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or even give our minds relief from the constant battering of life's demands, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but we can set ourselves to trust,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and our hearts to rely upon,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the source of the stream in which,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and from which, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we all come. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Take a breath just where you are,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and know you are held in the stream of life and love which carries us all.<br />
<br />
<br />
Take frequent breaths throughout your day, <br />
and find that source beyond the pressure of the moment,<br />
in that one thing for which even now,<br />
you can say thank you.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Do not be afraid.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Blessings</span></em></strong></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-23515902502813919242015-06-21T15:32:00.001-07:002015-06-21T16:12:15.030-07:00Resting Lightly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6TYrqU1mtdHTV0jLAqJM60Zjh8Rn57CbmgigINa4wPAGZSJm2un-tdDpNhtXprVwyP8eTsdIPIBnj7PB9bpgphyphenhyphenGE3IM3TvBS50Dtk8-OM3p7uzE50WJF9zY-MOvaSUPN02LfuM3xXPvf/s1600/2015-06-21+father%2527s+day%252C+zach+n+me+video+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6TYrqU1mtdHTV0jLAqJM60Zjh8Rn57CbmgigINa4wPAGZSJm2un-tdDpNhtXprVwyP8eTsdIPIBnj7PB9bpgphyphenhyphenGE3IM3TvBS50Dtk8-OM3p7uzE50WJF9zY-MOvaSUPN02LfuM3xXPvf/s640/2015-06-21+father%2527s+day%252C+zach+n+me+video+001.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The silver leaves of this tree in the park seem to have alighted on the branches;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a flight of butterflies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
trembling on the brink of disappearing on the breeze.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Such lightness of touch.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yAz1XmNzeeaugtwem2fNI95gkw_WIQbXWb0n74TrZ0yhF2WJ5oad9MqFmaif2rlEemJjkIBBQ1N71ZKjq85tLCxBOGUMUglYOtXbwxou4WeyEkNQv2SSAMkXS1dKESe8Ez_WEygfKrmB/s1600/2015-06-21+father%2527s+day%252C+zach+n+me+video+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yAz1XmNzeeaugtwem2fNI95gkw_WIQbXWb0n74TrZ0yhF2WJ5oad9MqFmaif2rlEemJjkIBBQ1N71ZKjq85tLCxBOGUMUglYOtXbwxou4WeyEkNQv2SSAMkXS1dKESe8Ez_WEygfKrmB/s640/2015-06-21+father%2527s+day%252C+zach+n+me+video+004.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My heart lifts</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with their promise that I need not cling so tightly.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The roots of freedom are planted by resting lightly, and letting go.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Be Blessed</i></b></span></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-49855280601296702052015-06-10T10:03:00.004-07:002015-06-24T14:08:49.782-07:00So, What's New?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQeq9HVDJifTWKemm2cg_CmDXii38RZMRGWEknS7po0FLZ3Dc32JI_H5Fgsh7R82IHFU_p7gUA3bFitxx4Xo-oMSkQUQW0VK4J0V5TmOGYeOYD-ys6p1jFCnyYCC0Jvyl60EhzldieOyq/s1600/2015-06-10+001+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQeq9HVDJifTWKemm2cg_CmDXii38RZMRGWEknS7po0FLZ3Dc32JI_H5Fgsh7R82IHFU_p7gUA3bFitxx4Xo-oMSkQUQW0VK4J0V5TmOGYeOYD-ys6p1jFCnyYCC0Jvyl60EhzldieOyq/s640/2015-06-10+001+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I walked into my sitting room today and wondered what the sweet perfume could be.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It couldn't be the prunings from the garden</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which I had stuffed into a vase rather than throw in the bin,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
because I knew they didn't have any scent.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I have been around these flowers since I was a kid,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
when they grew in my parents garden over seventy years ago.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My plants come from cuttings of theirs,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and I have transplanted them,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and weeded around them ever since.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My nose has been close to them more times than I could count</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as I have worked in the garden,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so I would have known if they bore any perfume wouldn't I?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But guess what? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Bending over them I realized they <i>do</i> have a scent but I had never caught it before.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I had never brought them indoors before either,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so perhaps the scent was intensified by being in the enclosed space. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Whatever the reason, the perfume came as a surprise.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Something so familiar I thought I knew all about </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
had an added dimension I never suspected.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The lesson is too obvious to spell out isn't it?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't help wondering what else I think I know all about,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and really don't.<br />
<br />
<br />
Humbling.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Be Blessed</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-88109110185631404132015-06-03T07:11:00.000-07:002015-06-21T10:48:49.793-07:00Limping and Leaping Towards Wholeness<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0E1zuxT6CPVv-V2gxjEQAOps4br55hredsg1_YSVqN3muyCvbq7kXnkg8OrguL9k3ZXz04JvA6gypq0n6rhAhDjEkkIagHlY5ak6gJSC8coEP1k8SxjKn1Lozh1GQgrCYLs9e3DODfMh/s1600/2015-05-31+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0E1zuxT6CPVv-V2gxjEQAOps4br55hredsg1_YSVqN3muyCvbq7kXnkg8OrguL9k3ZXz04JvA6gypq0n6rhAhDjEkkIagHlY5ak6gJSC8coEP1k8SxjKn1Lozh1GQgrCYLs9e3DODfMh/s640/2015-05-31+011.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
After far too many weeks away from my walk in the park<br />
I got there in the rain on Sunday.<br />
<br />
Under the dark canopy of trees I was drawn to<br />
the pure ebullience of the Queen Anne's Lace effervescing out of the gloom.<br />
Oceans of refreshing purity emerging from among the dark roots.<br />
<br />
It spoke volumes to me, as nature often does, <br />
but more so, given the last few weeks<br />
when all my batteries crashed at the same time.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,<br />
everything went flat.<br />
<br />
Well of course it did<br />
because we are a whole entity.<br />
If we drive ourselves too hard in any direction<br />
we feel that depletion in all other areas to one degree or another.<br />
Our lives simply get out of balance.<br />
<br />
(If you follow this blog at all you will know I've said this before in some way or another.<br />
No apology about that .<br />
We need to hear it.)<br />
The good news is that this hiatus can, and will,<br />
move us forward as nothing else can.<br />
<br />
My life has so often followed this pattern of limping, and then leaping.</div>
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span></i></b><br />
You may understand something of this in your own life. <br />
Things conspire to bring us, limping to a halt.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
We find we have to pay ourselves some attention.<br />
<br />
We learn to trust that nothing happens by chance and that <br />
even what seems so cruel, painful, and frightening at the time,<br />
is part of the design to bring us to a greater wholeness;<br />
especially so, if we are ready to learn why we have been brought to to this moment.<br />
<br />
<br />
Each one of us has a re- ocurring pattern to our lives.<br />
It is the thing which causes us to say<br />
" How come this is happening to me again?"<br />
<br />
<br />
You will have your own personal spanner in the works.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<br />
If, for any reason, we fail to grasp each lesson as we are presented with the opportunity,<br />
then the pattern continues until you begin to<br />
hear the deeper wisdom in your life which is there to guide you.<br />
<br />
You can cooperate in moving towards that leap forward once you recognise the pattern.<br />
<br />
It is a good thing to find<br />
a wise, loving, and faithful, friend,<br />
a spiritual mentor, counselor or therapist, to help you find your way<br />
and support you at such a time.<br />
<br />
Failing this, trust the Holy Spirit to lead you as you yearn for light.<br />
Ask that the ears of your heart be opened to the messages that <em>will</em> come.<br />
<br />
Dreams, unlikely "coincidences", <br />
stuff that suddenly speak into your situation out of left field.<br />
<br />
The more you listen, the more adept you will become in finding the guidance you seek.<br />
<br />
In everything, despite what you are being led to believe,<br />
(and this is especially difficult, but crucial, if your problems are with relationships),<br />
turn consistently towards the source which most leads you to a healthy love of yourself.<br />
<br />
Turn away from all that accuses, encourages guilt, or brings you down;<br />
perhaps particularly your own inner critic.<br />
<strong>Never be hard on yourself.</strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong>
<strong></strong>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>*</strong></span></i><br />
To illustrate, briefly, from my latest situation,<br />
physically I needed let go of an exciting (once in a life time), project,<br />
with a group working with a director from the Royal Shakespeare Company,<br />
which I'd invested a lot in, but was proving just too taxing.<br />
<br />
Then I needed to follow through on a problem I had been putting up with,<br />
to discover I needed a course of antibiotics.<br />
(Yes, I am that daft!<br />
But does this ring any bells with you?)<br />
<br />
I have given myself permission<br />
to really rest and recover my depleted strength<br />
rather than keep limping on and forcing myself to do it,<br />
so I have let go of preaching for a while.<br />
Also being in the worship team.<br />
<br />
The team project, the preaching, worship group, had a three pronged hold.<br />
I love each one of them. <br />
I hate letting people down,<br />
and, the deepest hold,<br />
they are each a way of connecting and communicating with others,<br />
which I badly need.<br />
<br />
I wanted to keep going, but deep down knew I need to let go,<br />
at least for now.<br />
As soon as I did let them go,<br />
I felt an almighty relief, and lightness.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Not being a masochist, I have kept my fortnightly choir,<br />
which is pure joy, <br />
and anyway ends for the summer break later this month.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span></i></b><br />
Emotionally, my weariness pointed me to a breakthrough<br />
in integrating deep childhood wounds.<br />
<br />
A weight I have carried all my life has been lifted.<br />
<br />
What I am saying is,<br />
unlikely as it seems this is a time of leaping!<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span></i></b><br />
If you limping along in any measure,<br />
take heart and believe you too are made to leap.<br />
<br />
Look back if you can,<br />
discern a pattern in your own life a when a crisis has,<br />
in reality turned into a blessing.<br />
<br />
For instance can you remember a change for the good<br />
you would never have made had you been left with a choice?<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span></em><br />
To thoroughly mix my metaphors,<br />
the beautiful healing light of the God who loves you<br />
is waiting in the dark place to break forth into<br />
new life<br />
<em><strong>in you.</strong></em><br />
<em><strong>And maybe when you least expect it.</strong></em><br />
<em><strong><br /></strong></em>
<em><strong><br /></strong></em>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMI1I5NI-cNx3vbZWHtcpwiJdg9_wz8mXGvcuX1lY2MY7Nzf1iEAUaIes0b_ovFk_pbnevo4JhIvisXnaqrbCCi1gtuesU5ZDoLSYcqmRXW51wuuhzdDUw0WBZqNqPmENm7hIke9C12jU/s1600/2015-05-31+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMI1I5NI-cNx3vbZWHtcpwiJdg9_wz8mXGvcuX1lY2MY7Nzf1iEAUaIes0b_ovFk_pbnevo4JhIvisXnaqrbCCi1gtuesU5ZDoLSYcqmRXW51wuuhzdDUw0WBZqNqPmENm7hIke9C12jU/s640/2015-05-31+010.jpg" width="384" /></a></div>
<strong><em><br /></em></strong>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">limping or leaping,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> as you follow your path.</span></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-15891148315076286292015-05-14T09:06:00.002-07:002015-05-31T02:50:33.949-07:00Ruminating<div style="text-align: center;">
There has been a lot doing these last weeks, and I haven't posted anything on my blog</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I don't suppose I've been missed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and as I don't often feel any compulsion to post regularly,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't complain if I haven't.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sometimes I wonder who reads my ramblings,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or if there is anybody out there at all;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
then I look at the stats, and of course there is.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't claim, as some folks do, that I only write for myself .</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Like painting, it is something that needs to be shared.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and sometimes I yearn to have some come back,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
then I put that down to an ego which needs stroking,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and put it to one side.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mainly I still want to share the wonder </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of this ordinary/extraordinary life we share,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and yes, I guess I do want to know if it resonates with you.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To know that we touch soul space for a second or two, and say</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Hmm! Yes!</b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
making an</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b> <i>Amen</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
together.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Well may be that isn't for me to know, so I'll just get on with it.<br />
<b>+</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This evening we are going to a Mary Black concert at Warwick Art Centre.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The tour is her "Final Call", as she is "hanging up her touring boots".<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Her pure voice has accompanied me for many hours in the studio.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you have never heard her sing, do listen to these.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you know her you will need no urging.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X7zqM0GEsrE" width="459"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></i></b></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-34177560434620084012015-04-24T09:26:00.000-07:002015-06-21T10:55:54.669-07:00Taking a Dive<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS8nNe5ECzIznpOkEigvdisfqld8A3qSLCfmdQ93ezEfwo6HdjcD3MP4RRsl_f51zqGuTJKOhLPXzklbCug7WUdHzmgiIsn_XMNWmfLbMfcnGZeajcxFxVhwXh0rGZl9tvVK3Kb22NDbB/s1600/20150424_090836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS8nNe5ECzIznpOkEigvdisfqld8A3qSLCfmdQ93ezEfwo6HdjcD3MP4RRsl_f51zqGuTJKOhLPXzklbCug7WUdHzmgiIsn_XMNWmfLbMfcnGZeajcxFxVhwXh0rGZl9tvVK3Kb22NDbB/s1600/20150424_090836.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
I took a dive yesterday<br />
. No, I don't mean I threw away a fight,<br />
or sprang into some gleaming pool from a distant spring board in the sky.<br />
<br />
What I did was reach up to the washing line to begin to peg out the clothes,<br />
stepping back as I did so,<br />
only to have my foot connect with an array of potted plants Hubby had put out<br />
to harden off with a view to later plantings.<br />
<br />
Being thrown off balance, the next thing I knew I was falling backwards towards a tall, heavy, planter, and the paving slabs of the patio.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the slowed down seconds of my fall I attempted to throw myself leftwards,<br />
towards the grass which seemed a softer option.<br />
<br />
I would like to think that if It<em> had </em>been a dive into a pool<br />
it was an elegant backward somersault, with twisted half pike.<br />
(I don't know what that means but it sounds about right, and so <em>good).</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
<em> </em><em> </em>In reality of course it was a frantic Tom and Jerry style flailing of the arms,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
ending in a full length sprawl on my side, accompanied by a sort of screamy shriek.<br />
<br />
If the style left something to be desired though, the landing was pretty good,<br />
in as much as I <em>did </em>largely avoid the paving slabs of the patio,<br />
with only my ribs and side connecting with the edge,<br />
as the upper part of me came to rest on the grass.<br />
<br />
. To be honest this was not as soft an option as I had thought,<br />
due to the fact the grass was growing in earth which felt<br />
like the same concrete the patio was resting on.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Not being an experienced diver I think it was a pretty good outcome,<br />
as I was able to lie there for a while<br />
assessing if there was any real damage to the working parts.<br />
<br />
From my newly recumbent position I could see my glasses half a body's length away,<br />
where they seemed to be making close observation of a couple of daisies,<br />
all be it without me.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, as I scanned my neighbours bedroom windows<br />
I didn't see any of <em>them </em>observing <em>me.</em><br />
<em> </em>(Embarrassment at my undignified dive had already kicked in.)<br />
<br />
Along with my relief at not being seen,<br />
I felt a slight discomfort at the thought I could let out such a shriek<br />
and be lying prone in my garden,<br />
without at least one would-be helper emerging from somewhere.<br />
<br />
Finding myself sound in wind and limb I gingerly got up,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
collected my specs, and roused hubby from his lair at the computer in the study upstairs.<br />
In the end it took two calls from the foot of the stairs to get through to him.<br />
<br />
Emergency treatment consisted of a hot cup of sweet tea of course,<br />
(well, I am British),<br />
a couple of paracetamol, hot shower,<br />
and analgesic spray to my ribs.<br />
<br />
Truth compels me to add there were a few tears,<br />
a bit of laughter as I visualised my diving technique,<br />
and a few well chosen words to hubby about where he had left the potted plants.<br />
<br />
I couldn't quite see the rationale behind his reply that<br />
"They haven't been there long",<br />
because, as I pointed out<br />
they were there long enough for one of us to have fallen over them! <br />
<br />
The thing is, as with all accidents, my fall came out of a clear blue sky<br />
. One minute everything was fine and dandy,<br />
and my day was planned out in front of me,<br />
the next I was on the ground.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Life had been good.<br />
<br />
Being laid low in the past has not always followed that pattern for me.<br />
Like many who suffer from chronic illness,<br />
when I was sick I struggled with depression and low self esteem.<br />
<br />
The conflict I had felt as I lay in the garden,<br />
on the one hand needing somebody to have known and responded,<br />
while at the same time feeling an uncalled for shame at my situation,<br />
are all too familiar to me.<br />
<br />
There was always this guilt attached to being less than one should be,<br />
either in ones body or ones mind.<br />
<br />
All too often my heart's cry was<br />
<em>Ps. 42 :5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?</em><br />
<em> Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.</em><br />
<br />
Thankfully now, both in body, mind, and spirit, I walk a more even path.<br />
I do not forget however, how despair, despondency, and fear,<br />
can seem to fall out of a clear blue sky.<br />
<br />
I hope you know nothing of what it is to suffer from depression.<br />
I also hope if you do not, you are careful not to judge those who do.<br />
Careful not to say,<br />
"What have <em>they</em> got to be depressed about?"<br />
because believe me that is a question they will ask themselves,<br />
and beat themselves with, time and again.<br />
<br />
Of course, according to statistics,<br />
around 80% of us show some signs of clinical depression,<br />
so it is far more likely you <em>do </em>understand what it means to suffer in some way.<br />
<br />
If you do, above all:-<br />
<br />
D<em>o not be ashamed, or believe you are undeserving of help.</em><br />
<em>Learn to be your own best friend, and do seek help.</em><br />
<em>In be-friending yourself learn to spot what pushes you towards the dive in your mood.</em><br />
<em></em><em>Watch your energy. - What gives it.? What takes it way? </em><br />
<em>Take exquisitely good care of yourself in the most wholesome way you know.</em><br />
<em> </em><em>Avoid like the plague those who do not accept you as you are.</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
Gosh I'm sorry.<br />
Didn't mean to give you yet another drain on your energy<br />
by making a list of does and don'ts.<br />
<br />
I know what it is not to have the mental energy for such things,<br />
or even to believe I would ever have that energy again.<br />
To believe absolutely that this is the very time from which I will never arise.<br />
<br />
If that is where you are today, I reach out to you,<br />
praying the heaviness will be broken, the prison bars shattered,<br />
and light again return to your spirit. <br />
<br />
If you are already standing tall, and strong. and positive,<br />
why not join me in sending out the blessing of light, and healing,<br />
in your own way?<br />
<br />
May this weekend see us all arise to a fuller way of being.<br />
<br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong>
P.S. To hear the late Maya Angelou read her well known poem,<em> I Will Arise</em><br />
click on the link below.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/JqOqo50LSZ0?list=RD7HiE4lt_">youtu.be/JqOqo50LSZ0?list=RD7HiE4lt_</a></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-91429893279027038052015-04-18T15:21:00.000-07:002015-04-19T00:48:22.376-07:00The View From The Top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXXEjJtcnhHCC2_PHDfaO92mPpnmobhORIxqaePz-fdV0QUepF5fBefVnCEWKeFeXIhd_vcqrTLj2ITxHVnKEthxgj589g-RvfWv0nPlZmknF3QgOBApbjlMhZIN6rA90Wu6Sm7QeMIjw/s1600/20150414_115020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXXEjJtcnhHCC2_PHDfaO92mPpnmobhORIxqaePz-fdV0QUepF5fBefVnCEWKeFeXIhd_vcqrTLj2ITxHVnKEthxgj589g-RvfWv0nPlZmknF3QgOBApbjlMhZIN6rA90Wu6Sm7QeMIjw/s1600/20150414_115020.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3qN3bc3bCSrW9RNOVk5ZtGbszrFj5pkn2Pjvj0vNkfog4e_eQnpTs0eOdfucH5LMS0uISb95qWQhCRC_dmzU6WI3gLp-9BdmFdibzGLB4cUGsADdndfEUV77_RtllihDv5-8OeLmIB0Y/s1600/20150414_115032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3qN3bc3bCSrW9RNOVk5ZtGbszrFj5pkn2Pjvj0vNkfog4e_eQnpTs0eOdfucH5LMS0uISb95qWQhCRC_dmzU6WI3gLp-9BdmFdibzGLB4cUGsADdndfEUV77_RtllihDv5-8OeLmIB0Y/s1600/20150414_115032.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rnr-Yuf0Jttx5upGJZgZmcaW0CdvSFDGO-OH8op0QFXyb3fg4PGiX2PD_ejvYljfCreTXhtQGLtMJ02EiIfVZ9GHcj0pMKtHWN9URUlbpT-L131476Gx_FJg1hrXMgbtcC4NKcsgs9hu/s1600/20150414_123236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rnr-Yuf0Jttx5upGJZgZmcaW0CdvSFDGO-OH8op0QFXyb3fg4PGiX2PD_ejvYljfCreTXhtQGLtMJ02EiIfVZ9GHcj0pMKtHWN9URUlbpT-L131476Gx_FJg1hrXMgbtcC4NKcsgs9hu/s1600/20150414_123236.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvKuh9xA6Rf_8RR6x1CbAKT2fLYzHqBZc2J_L7vuWfmdUMCVMMkkwInNL9OXX0N2J_hkGKnPhl9FDkluWIFt71qELa3jm5CMG7SRkP5cEkgFZQAFDdMcxArBDQjUcQHbFIy0OQAWZN9Zn/s1600/20150414_125406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvKuh9xA6Rf_8RR6x1CbAKT2fLYzHqBZc2J_L7vuWfmdUMCVMMkkwInNL9OXX0N2J_hkGKnPhl9FDkluWIFt71qELa3jm5CMG7SRkP5cEkgFZQAFDdMcxArBDQjUcQHbFIy0OQAWZN9Zn/s1600/20150414_125406.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I took these photos at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Camp">British_Camp</a>,<br />
not quite at the top of the site of the Iron Age fort<br />
in the Malvern Hills, Worchestershire.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hubby and I climb it once a year to prove we still can,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and to look over at our beloved Wales from the summit.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This year we took our seven year old great grand son Zachary with us </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and he had a great time playing warrior spying out the enemy,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as well as coming in handy carrying our picnic to the top on his back.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We were not all that sure we would make it to the top this year,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
what with hubby's arthritic knees and seventy nine years beginning to take their toll.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the event we all made it,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
enjoying our picnic in the unseasonably warm sunshine atop the fort.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For the first time I can remember, even the wind held it's breath,<br />
so the silence was unbroken.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We marvelled together at the magnificent panorama, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and wondered at the amazing people who built this fortification so very long ago.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now people are drawn here </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as a place apart from the struggles of everyday life.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even Zach ventured the opinion </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it was so peaceful, he would like to live at the top.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When it was built of course</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it was a means of survival at the very <i>centre </i>of battle and strife.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sitting in the sunshine I remembered a time nearing my mother's death </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
when I was attempting to split myself between my home in Coventry,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and my parents home in Wales. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Both Mam and Dad were frail, my daughter was awaiting surgery,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and my husband undergoing tests for a muscular problem </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I had been driving down to Wales, when against all the pressures of time,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I succumbed to the need to pull off the motor way</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and take the detour to the Malverns.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The day had been grey, with a constant drenching drizzle falling</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as I climbed the steep path just high enough to feel myself drawn into the side of the hill.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Leaving the path I sank onto the damp ground and wept.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I cannot convey the sense of embrace, and peace, I experienced then,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the earth itself seemed to mirror my pain and weariness,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and comfort me.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now, here I was this time,<br />
having got to the top,<br />
sitting on the lower slopes of the huge mound</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
caressed by spring sunshine, with my husband by my side,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and my great grand son playing photographer.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZrZCoF3gXutfjWQnVZiN9_yUmc407jDPwY3tmDu4bzVPKnDtWf7dqrbaE-3XkC9QnpAp2A9hw3bkesifP2s0HqMaOjtr2fFWboPNYWooIpp0fw813qx-abDUHZ8ZUHPKv8sv_v1QXr-tc/s1600/20150414_130608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZrZCoF3gXutfjWQnVZiN9_yUmc407jDPwY3tmDu4bzVPKnDtWf7dqrbaE-3XkC9QnpAp2A9hw3bkesifP2s0HqMaOjtr2fFWboPNYWooIpp0fw813qx-abDUHZ8ZUHPKv8sv_v1QXr-tc/s1600/20150414_130608.jpg" height="313" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Although I am not carrying anything like the burden I was that day in the rain,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
there are still painful, demanding, things<br />
waiting for us when we return from our trip to the top.<br />
<br />
<b>+</b><br />
<br />
There are few times in life, it seems to me,<br />
when we are living with an un-interrupted view from the top,<br />
where all is peace and radiant with beautiful horizons.<br />
<br />
At the moment those closest to us are each caught up<br />
in difficult and uncertain circumstances.<br />
<br /><br />
This week has been especially stressful.<br />
<br /><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">It would be so easy to slip back into the fear that has so often bound me in the past,</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">and robbed me of peace.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Strangely the greatest temptation is to feel that I <i>should </i>be fearful and anxious</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">in the face of what is happening.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
I remembered the word I had received for this year was<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>peace,</i> </span><br />
thinking ruefully how much that has already been tested,<br />
yet thankfully, wonderfully, held.<br />
<br />
In the instant the thoughts and emotions formed, other words arose,<br />
<br />
from Ps. 31:14-17<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b><span class="text Ps-31-14" id="en-NIV-14346" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative; text-align: start;">But I trust<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-14346A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-14346A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> in you, <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>;</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-31-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">I say, “You are my God.”</span></span></b></i></span><br />
<div class="line1" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span class="reftext" style="line-height: 14px; margin-left: 1px; margin-right: 2px; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>My times are in your hands;</b></span></i></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>deliver me from the hands of my enemies,</b></span></i></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>from those who pursue me.</b></span></i></div>
<div class="line1" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span class="reftext" style="line-height: 14px; margin-left: 1px; margin-right: 2px; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>Let your face shine on your servant;</b></span></i></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>save me in your unfailing love.</b></span></i></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></i></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The situation of my loved one had not, and has not, changed,</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but the view from the top is to carry the peace of trust down</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> into the testing place </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of faith</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">where the horizons are narrowed with threat of one sort or another.</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our times may not be in our own hands yet we may trust ourselves </span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and each other to that higher, wider view,</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">obscured to us.</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>+</b></span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I pray that where you, like me, may be tempted to fear or despondency, </span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">you may be strengthened by the Spirit to</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> hope and peace.</span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="line2" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 50px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>Be Blessed</b></i></span></div>
</div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-51650211051976604022015-04-08T02:14:00.002-07:002015-04-09T02:03:45.731-07:00 Creative Gear<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTc72c9ZLbD1pPmY9ajneO7XZKYVIRxWDOOmoB2auU4kB8O3LcDHHGTnEoCrNS1lIe5J0HjXt1-CyaDzpd4HtEtsORo50WSKU3RjF5CZbbe8kQKr7eT-fv_tC2_oqbxkROsfHhWv6S9Ptm/s1600/Coventry-20140822-01363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTc72c9ZLbD1pPmY9ajneO7XZKYVIRxWDOOmoB2auU4kB8O3LcDHHGTnEoCrNS1lIe5J0HjXt1-CyaDzpd4HtEtsORo50WSKU3RjF5CZbbe8kQKr7eT-fv_tC2_oqbxkROsfHhWv6S9Ptm/s1600/Coventry-20140822-01363.jpg" height="264" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cabins in the Woods, Minnesota Oil on Canvas Hazel Price</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
When I drop my granddaughter and my two adorable great grand children off at their home,(redundant adjective. All great grandchildren are adorable)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I have developed the habit of driving straight on to the forecourt,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and then twiddling the car around by means of the forward and reverse gears,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong> </strong>(at least that's what they called it when I passed my test some fifty years ago),</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to enable me to drive straight out again.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The other evening, Zach, at seven the oldest of the two adorable great grand children asked, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Nan. Why do you always do this funny turn on the drive?" <br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As I don't do it anywhere else, and would normally simply reverse in</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I was stumped for an answer. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
( I have since wondered if it isn't so that I prolong our time together by a few minutes.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But before I could come up with an answer he continued,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
" Oh! I know! It's because you are an artist and creative people always try different ways.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
There is no such thing as the wrong way to an artist is there Nan?"<br />
<br />
<br />
To which I <em>did </em>answer,<br />
"You are right!<br />
How would we ever find new things if we kept doing them the old ways?"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The point is, I don't know where he had heard that,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or who had taught it to him, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but what a wonderful gift of knowledge to have; </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
not just at seven years of age but at any age.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It came as a gift to me I can tell you.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even after all these years the critical voice of "reason" still nags.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's the cold voice that breathes an icy blast on our creativity,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
whichever way we express it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So, I hand the gift on.<br />
<br />
You don't need an audience, (though one is nice).<br />
It need not be a masterpiece.<br />
It may only be a beginning,( because every minute of creating is just that).<br />
But do it anyway!<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>May you be free to follow the sweet voice of intuition today;</em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>(baking a cake, walking the dog, visiting a friend, giving that talk...)</em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>free to strike out in the way that gives you joy,</em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>to dance your dance, and sing your song,</em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>so your spirit may grow in freedom,</em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>and the voice of creation be heard through you today.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em><br /></em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong>
P.S. Can't remember if I've posted this painting before. Memories of my time in the hermitage.<br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong>
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="goog_774649204"></span><span id="goog_774649205"><br /></span></span></em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></strong></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-61181431421821902022015-04-05T02:39:00.000-07:002015-04-06T10:35:42.932-07:00More Stuff Bubbling Up...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This really is going to be brief.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Honest.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's just another take on those roses I sketched and painted</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> a week ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9spiHe-Kwxf4o2_tcMC3i9eYCCQ6AqIfUd4T8z_NowBdFl1bJjbRYUHiGKdzQVQNxkP7_k4D2ZT0Bdatbd80JXzXKT9fNWzpEU3g2K1_tjNa-ECIh_UOtqQBjDrzNMnwDBD1T-CbQJYg/s1600/DSCF5061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9spiHe-Kwxf4o2_tcMC3i9eYCCQ6AqIfUd4T8z_NowBdFl1bJjbRYUHiGKdzQVQNxkP7_k4D2ZT0Bdatbd80JXzXKT9fNWzpEU3g2K1_tjNa-ECIh_UOtqQBjDrzNMnwDBD1T-CbQJYg/s320/DSCF5061.JPG" height="640" width="486" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I like it for the colours, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">but hubby prefers the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4238214236579909688#editor/target=post;postID=6136763955979840903;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=3;src=postname"><em>first drawing</em></a> I did.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I wonder which one you prefer?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>God Bless</b></i></span><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">P.S. Not sure how this got posted. </span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"> It was a draft made in a series about drawing some time ago.</span></em></strong></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-13957398764350186272015-04-04T13:16:00.000-07:002015-04-05T02:24:45.546-07:00Easter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildn3igaTWB9HFm3AzXaeFjw07lZOBzWUrOO849neY8XyyIqLmfQ9lQioWPXXlXa0wU5iyLpPzWV7V5QQyfkrzNtBn2CJoymcaYORIxy6rlWf6w6u_LdOGs-bZHBSxfLjKQysP7nZJjv-e/s1600/He+is+not+here!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildn3igaTWB9HFm3AzXaeFjw07lZOBzWUrOO849neY8XyyIqLmfQ9lQioWPXXlXa0wU5iyLpPzWV7V5QQyfkrzNtBn2CJoymcaYORIxy6rlWf6w6u_LdOGs-bZHBSxfLjKQysP7nZJjv-e/s1600/He+is+not+here!.jpg" height="539" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Tomb Angel by Arcabas </i><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;"><strong><em> Matt 28:6</em></strong></span><span class="text Matt-28-6" id="en-NIV-24202" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.<br /><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-24202I" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-24202I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> Come and see the place where he lay.</span></em></strong></span><br />
<br /><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-size: small;">This wonderful painting by Arcabas gives us a new vision of the Easter morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /> It shows the women who came to the tomb in the early morning to anoint Jesus' dead body</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> being greeted by an angel and an empty tomb.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"> Jesus had come through crucifixion and was alive.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /> I pray if you have an area in your life that seems to offer little hope or expectancy, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">somewhere full of fear and trepidation,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">you will look for Jesus as the women did,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> and find that place transformed and glowing with new life and promise.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">That is what Jesus resurrection offers us,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">right here and right now.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-7205091625511370162015-03-10T03:08:00.000-07:002015-03-12T03:14:35.046-07:00Inseparable - You and God<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In our Lenten group at church on Sunday evening the talk encouraged us </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to think about how God looks at us, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and then to take a few minutes to consider what God may want to say to us as </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He/She gazed at us.<br />
<br />
<br />
If, in my tiredness, I was expecting little other than a warm silence<br />
I was pulled up short as something I thought I "knew"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
came at me in an unexpected way.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To my surprise I "heard" just one word.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Inseparable.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Trying to get my head around this, I thought, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"It's true I need to feel you near me Lord..."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but no that wasn't it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The word just gently lay in my heart and mind as I leant in</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to accept the truth which seemed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
too strange and big.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">We are inseparable.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">God and I.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">One.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Without this being true, you, I, all things would not exist.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Would not "hold together", as some translations of the first words of John's gospel put it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span class="text John-1-1"><span class="chapternum">1 </span>In the beginning was the Word,<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26046A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26046A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup> and the Word was with God,<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26046B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26046B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup> and the Word was God.<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26046C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26046C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup></span> <span class="text John-1-2" id="en-NIV-26047"><sup class="versenum">2 </sup>He was with God in the beginning.<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26047D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26047D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup></span> <span class="text John-1-3" id="en-NIV-26048"><sup class="versenum">3<span style="color: red;"> </span></sup><span style="color: red;">Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26048E" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26048E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup></span></span><span style="color: red;"> <span class="text John-1-4" id="en-NIV-26049"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>In him was life,<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26049F" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26049F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup> and that life was the light<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26049G" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26049G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)"></sup> of all mankind.</span></span> <span class="text John-1-5" id="en-NIV-26050"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>The light shines in the darkness,<sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26050H" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26050H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)"></sup> and the darkness has not overcome<sup class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NIV-26050a" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-26050a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]">[</sup>it.</span></strong></em><br />
<span class="text John-1-5">(My highlighting).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And of course Romans 8: 38-39 tells us <em>nothing </em>can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But this is an after thought, (mine as I write now, not St. Paul's when he wrote Romans !)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from the original one which tells us the mind boggling truth,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that as much as God's creation would not be complete without us,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in some wonderful way God, (however we understand that term) </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
would not be complete without us.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">You, me, all things.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">We are inseparable from God,</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">One with God.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">In God.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
No matter how much distance we may FEEL there is between us.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
No matter who or what we think we are, or are not,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>We are inseparable,</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>(one with),</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>God,</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>each other,</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>and all creation.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
Perhaps you would like to take a moment of quiet to let this thought, and this word<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>inseparable</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
sink into you.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><strong>
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Let images, or words,</span></i></strong><br />
<i><strong>arise as they will</strong></i><br />
<i><strong>out of that one word.</strong></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><strong>Let all other things,</strong></i><br />
<i><strong>and thoughts,</strong></i><br />
<i><strong> flow off, and around you.</strong></i><br />
<i><strong>Pay them no mind.</strong></i><br />
<i><br /></i><strong>
<i>They are not for this moment.</i></strong><br />
<i><br /></i><strong>
<i>Rest now.</i></strong><br />
<i><br /></i><strong>
<i>Breathe,</i></strong><br />
<i><strong>and live,</strong></i><br />
<i><strong> and simply be, with this word </strong></i><br />
<i><strong>inseparable</strong></i><br />
<i><strong>for as long as it takes.</strong></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong></strong><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><strong>May a new truth break upon you today.</strong></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Be Blessed</i></b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-31500180083904967742015-02-21T02:37:00.001-08:002015-02-22T02:07:58.803-08:00Spring Fever, or Lent, if You Will<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrLQ0eR5uSrUpbk3_iXKvwkPIWaPlKaF7yGtphY0habHCL6FndEdfagq3pRBdxnm6z8AEaD6pJUVi7rHPqUgOVpFjsHHY0PUnxxbmxAUgoRzpQWDqHcbD6G2vnmiCXCKV0lLwJx49Y50B/s1600/Paint-pots_2814133b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrLQ0eR5uSrUpbk3_iXKvwkPIWaPlKaF7yGtphY0habHCL6FndEdfagq3pRBdxnm6z8AEaD6pJUVi7rHPqUgOVpFjsHHY0PUnxxbmxAUgoRzpQWDqHcbD6G2vnmiCXCKV0lLwJx49Y50B/s1600/Paint-pots_2814133b.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo - telegraph. u.k.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><br /></em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I blame the local D.I.Y store for their winter sales on paint,<br />
but hubby has bought enough for all but two of the rooms in the house,<br />
plus hall, landing and stairway,<br />
and is tearing away at the job.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We are now on room three. Our bedroom.<br />
Given that he's almost seventy nine, has horrendously bad and painful knees,<br />
and problem eyesight, we progress fairly well.<br />
<br />
For fairly well read, me constantly repeating my mantras,<br />
"You have missed a bit", <br />
(He <em>does</em>, and I can't help being a critic!)<br />
" Why don't you take a break?!"<br />
(He pushes himself, and I can't help being concerned!)<br />
and me cleaning blobs of paint from places paint should never be,<br />
whilst he works himself to a standstill.<br />
<br />
It's not exactly spring fever, but something very like it.<br />
<br />
I must admit, seeing the transformation he is making,<br />
even those rooms I didn't think needed touching<br />
really did need freshening after all.<br />
<br />
Seeing the gleaming white window sill that has just been painted<br />
against the yellowing frames that haven't, are pretty convincing.<br />
<br />
Watching his preparation before he applies the fresh paper and paint<br />
have made me think about this season of spring in the church's calendar.<br />
<br />
(Did you know that Lent is an old English word for spring?<br />
No, I don't think I did either.)<br />
<br />
It would be so easy to cover over what's only slightly shabby.<br />
Camouflage is so tempting.<br />
Just keep covering what is underneath with another coat.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But No!<br />
<br />
<br />
Sometimes hubby judges a simple wash down is all that is needed,<br />
but a lot of the time he rubs the paintwork down. <br />
Cleans out the old filling that's shrunk back, <br />
or stands too proud. (Ouch!)<br />
Then he puts in new stuff, and smooths it down so the cracks are gone.<br />
Then, and only then, <br />
as he deems the preparation is complete can the finish be applied.<br />
<br />
Of course when we say finish, we know<br />
at some point it will all need doing again.<br />
<br />
I always enter Lent with thanksgiving that<br />
even though transformation is a continuing process,<br />
hour by hour, and day by day,<br />
as we seek to live in Christ,<br />
this special season gives us time to focus on a deeper co-operation <br />
with the spirit's work of renewal.<br />
<br />
All it takes is the humility, (or we could say the readiness),<br />
to see the shabbiness that may have crept in,<br />
and the little spots that need to be uncovered,<br />
or emptied out,<br />
in order to be refilled and renewed.<br />
<br />
We do not need re-decoration as our rooms do,<br />
but we all need opening to the deeper radiance <br />
of an inner life that will shine through.<br />
Well, I know I do. <br />
<br />
<br />
So, away with any need for camouflage, or covering up.<br />
I'm entering Lent with that touch of spring fever!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Wishing you a fruitful Spring,<br />
or Lent, if you will.<br />
<br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed this Weekend.</span></strong></em><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-20337502480210355722015-02-07T10:12:00.001-08:002015-02-07T10:57:13.488-08:00An Anchor of Hope<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-3xf8WZ2EiOw2fDMuzVgg6PPu5xBp-5zfs6pl38cDmBb8QTUos2MKafIZY7StNNMShGgYvkF2N7LNLvB86d04UDzt_M2xQvrl1f4c-PgC-hxPGSEd06DyVor_J5_Vsa95ydzGkKMifor/s1600/stock-photo-21008246-white-dove-isolated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-3xf8WZ2EiOw2fDMuzVgg6PPu5xBp-5zfs6pl38cDmBb8QTUos2MKafIZY7StNNMShGgYvkF2N7LNLvB86d04UDzt_M2xQvrl1f4c-PgC-hxPGSEd06DyVor_J5_Vsa95ydzGkKMifor/s1600/stock-photo-21008246-white-dove-isolated.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/21008246/3/stock-photo-21008246-white-dove-isolated.jpg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While the news from all over the world presses in with</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so much suffering, sickness, and war,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it becomes impossible to end</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the litany of prayer.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At the end of World War 11 words which have come to be known as</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Inscription of Hope </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
were found scratched onto a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by an unknown Jew in hiding from the holocaust.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
May the same vision of hope, and strength of heart,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
be with all who seek peace at this time.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b>Inscription of Hope</b></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">I believe in the sun,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when it is not shining.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">And I believe in love,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when there’s no one there.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">And I believe in God,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when He is silent.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I believe though any trial,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">There is always a way.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">But sometimes in the suffering,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">And hopeless despair.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">My heart cries for shelter,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">To know someone’s there.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">But a voice rises within me,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Saying hold on my child.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I’ll give you strength I’ll give you hope,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Just stay a little while.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I believe in the sun, (Ooooo)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when it is not shining. (Ooooo)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">And I believe in love, (Ooooo)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when there’s no one there. (Ooooo)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">But I believe in God,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Even when He is silent.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I believe through any trial,</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: #315d9c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">There is always a way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span id="goog_2018473060"></span><span id="goog_2018473061"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">To hear these words sung by New Jersey Honour choir click on the link below.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjrhRJ_hsuc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjrhRJ_hsuc</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as for some reason blogger is refusing to upload videos at the moment. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-1599675763041702412015-02-03T13:39:00.002-08:002015-06-21T11:04:50.735-07:00Read and Learn?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi815VyX4ol_OY91Yf2gEMlVtTxffKqzVJ9XdW-_svwmRaJeJL8LsVx1uoor4PrJdOHk5SDSpuqKxEP-deeC6nh1Pse6AKXJ_4LoI-5h-2sHb3vRA4ACwEFHgJcCZHCkxDXf1r7ZluPejit/s1600/2008_0724Americaapril20090161+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi815VyX4ol_OY91Yf2gEMlVtTxffKqzVJ9XdW-_svwmRaJeJL8LsVx1uoor4PrJdOHk5SDSpuqKxEP-deeC6nh1Pse6AKXJ_4LoI-5h-2sHb3vRA4ACwEFHgJcCZHCkxDXf1r7ZluPejit/s1600/2008_0724Americaapril20090161+(3).JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Scrolls of silver birch bark manuscripts lie waiting to be read.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I wish I could fathom their secrets,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but they have already written magic on my day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Be Blessed</i></b></span></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-61099758912939652842015-01-30T03:07:00.001-08:002018-12-28T03:37:19.205-08:00Giving Peace A Chance <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Having received the word</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong> peace</strong></em> for the year ahead</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> I am accepting it as a loving,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> yet searching,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> part of my road to wholeness. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am also committing to my co-operation on that road.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Last year when the word that came alive for me was</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Freedom,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> I found myself looking at fears </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">which most inhibited my Freedom of integrity ,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and in seeing where I was most bound</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> I could choose to accept the offer of the life of the Spirit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> rather than my old conditioned response,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and gain release.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Obviously my pas de deux of Freedom in, and with the Spirit,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> has not finished because 2014 has ended;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> far from it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Indeed Freedom, and the new spot lit word of Peace,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> are very much partners in the dance of the Spirit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Following the enhanced taste of inner/core </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4238214236579909688#editor/target=post;postID=5103303730147993842;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname"><span style="font-size: large;">peace</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I experienced as</span><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4238214236579909688#editor/target=post;postID=5103303730147993842;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=1;src=postname"><span style="font-size: large;">A Grace of the heart</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> the Spirit's down payment, (Eph.1:14)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I wasn't at all surprised to have my attention drawn to</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> how often it is that my little heart goes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pouff!<span id="goog_1941495304"></span><span id="goog_1941495305"></span> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2HvirJANgO2BXjl5p8GOjTn-WKr61CoO6iF_l6HS0sbDXAiUd8P5U2MIT7m05njYA1oQZI4dq5GirRSD7bek58K-gUCthtdZd6yOoYmbb3j29FwuO13afb0uPdIA-u7cNQw2yhp1eeKXx/s1600/how-big-is-that-wave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2HvirJANgO2BXjl5p8GOjTn-WKr61CoO6iF_l6HS0sbDXAiUd8P5U2MIT7m05njYA1oQZI4dq5GirRSD7bek58K-gUCthtdZd6yOoYmbb3j29FwuO13afb0uPdIA-u7cNQw2yhp1eeKXx/s1600/how-big-is-that-wave.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/static/uploads/photos/how-big-is-that-wave.jpg</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The explosion needn't be as big or as visible </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">as this wave breaking on the rocks,<br /> but the Holy Spirit,<br /> ever faithful,<br />has drawn my attention to how easily I lose my peace.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
They may be small signs but</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I notice my fists balling with impatience<br /> at mindless chatter,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">my far from charitable thoughts to fellow drivers,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">the fact even inanimate objects can make me angry at times...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />I see how easily my irritation is aroused</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> at countless mundane things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">How easily I can be saddened or maddened.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
My mother used to remark on my explosions when I was a kid, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"No wonder there are wars!"<br />
<em><strong>It's when the pot is jolted we discover what is really inside</strong></em><br />
<em><strong>by what spills out.</strong></em></span><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"></span></em></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
I know I'm more susceptible when I'm tired </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">or not very well,<br /> so I'm not merely being hard on myself. <br />Actually the Spirit is making me sensitive</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> to how much my peace<br />can also depend on taking better care of myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
Our emotional and spiritual well being </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">are not separate from our physical health,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> but all part of the one whole.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZRJaOGirmUGI8trLW7RXSlvYij1yi_PBLBfuUu6VsxdziU6qZAul5lgibtVjcOvSWamrraa-FDWB3zNsH_4UezS1Yfv5khhLhzb_6agnnXT77MEnRhkDRFcFd2AusDPafEs5mC3Arho/s1600/Solihull-20140908-01425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZRJaOGirmUGI8trLW7RXSlvYij1yi_PBLBfuUu6VsxdziU6qZAul5lgibtVjcOvSWamrraa-FDWB3zNsH_4UezS1Yfv5khhLhzb_6agnnXT77MEnRhkDRFcFd2AusDPafEs5mC3Arho/s1600/Solihull-20140908-01425.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
Even in the first weeks of living with this new openness<br />
to peace within<br />
I have begun to recognise those things </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">which are taking too much out of me,<br />
and what I need to avoid, and what cultivate.
<br /><br />
I have become more conscious of the choice</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> to live out of the quiet lake within,<br />
rather than the roar of my heart hitting the rocks.<br />
<em><strong>Not to say I have mastered the art of </strong></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong>letting my life be so centred</strong></em>:<br />
<em><strong>but I am travelling hopefully </strong></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong>towards that grace.</strong></em>
<br /><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And really, I'm wondering as I write</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> if you might have a reason right now </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong>to be pursuing</strong></em> <strong><em>a deeper heart peace yourself.</em></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, starting on the outside,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> do you need to let yourself off the hook</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> regarding some commitment, or pastime</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> that isn't fuelled from a true heart desire,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> but rather some idea of yourself you need not follow. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> Is there something you have taken on that,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> no matter how good it looks,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> has become burdensome </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">and would be a relief to let go?</span></strong></em><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(Relief could well be another word for peace</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> in this instance.)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Of course I don't mean something has just got difficult,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> but something that seems to suck the life out of you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Pray about letting it go if you discover something. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Perhaps ask a wise friend to help you decide </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">it's significance, and come to a decision.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Secondly, find a way to</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong> discover your own inner place of heart peace</strong></em> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">if you haven't already done so, </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by finding a meditation practice which suits you, </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> There are so many on offer on the web and elsewhere.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Until you find a more permanent meditative practice</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you might like to start by</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">at the very least finding a place</span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> for a few moments quiet for yourself this weekend.</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Broom cupboards, toilet cubicles,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> hiding behind a newspaper on a train...</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the options are endless so be imaginative!</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Once you have found your place,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> breathe deeply, </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">swimming down to the bottom of your breath,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> to your own secret place below your heart,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> and allow every breath to assure you,</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong> you are loved</strong></em>. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A few minutes, and </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> You will have made a good start!</span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em><br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span></em></strong></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed </span></strong></em></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">this weekend.</span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></em>
<span style="font-size: large;">P.S. Apologies for strange lay out and line spacing in places. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Blogger has gone wonky</span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-51033037301479938422015-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:002015-01-04T14:25:16.098-08:00A Grace of the Heart<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not sure if what I'm going to say will make sense to anybody other than an introvert, but here goes..</span>.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I have lifted all the following pictures from http://blueeyedennis.tumblr.com/</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
where you can find them, and many other treasures.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6_95EkM01FnjLVaSSqM1XHlata4V_XIaH_aWXvHcm2oxQcKYvEczeuUDVyFPGR6bV4IsQVAZdRngRXGAV7NryTr2yM1yJf-nsTDwa_J0SLTgvlot_VHhibdIaE4FLUeM9b5z75keOqMa/s1600/snowy+landscape5.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6_95EkM01FnjLVaSSqM1XHlata4V_XIaH_aWXvHcm2oxQcKYvEczeuUDVyFPGR6bV4IsQVAZdRngRXGAV7NryTr2yM1yJf-nsTDwa_J0SLTgvlot_VHhibdIaE4FLUeM9b5z75keOqMa/s1600/snowy+landscape5.gif" height="640" width="416" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I guess it is not unusual </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to feel a little tug of excitement at the first sight of falling snow.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Even when we know the inconvenience, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and sometimes sheer misery it is going to cause,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> the beauty of the transformation being wrought </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">has an inevitable fairy tale charm.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(At least in those first moments).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Here in the U.K. we usually have so little of it,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> novelty value alone is worth something.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As a child in the hills of Wales,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">winters seemed more severe than they are now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigTKR6v18o9fTFWi02KIIGNU4HadyEmO9CMNllbZkuVB0W0HSUzfs0iAi4hHfulzspYZM18XAsraf21zo07mtTuuLBj0SGUSGucOztVa9AtwNqEsNJRVm_VguWVm-Go3a0i2FNKlsOxf2f/s1600/snowy+landscape+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigTKR6v18o9fTFWi02KIIGNU4HadyEmO9CMNllbZkuVB0W0HSUzfs0iAi4hHfulzspYZM18XAsraf21zo07mtTuuLBj0SGUSGucOztVa9AtwNqEsNJRVm_VguWVm-Go3a0i2FNKlsOxf2f/s1600/snowy+landscape+2.jpg" height="640" width="460" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We would quickly get snowed in,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and my poor mother would fight desperately</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> to keep a way out open.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As soon as the way was opened I remember </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">it would freeze again at nightfall,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and often Mam would tug the drawn curtains aside </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to watch the swirling flakes hurrying through the blackness</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> to fill the way she had so recently cleared</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew the work and worry it caused her</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> just to keep us in the basics of food and fuel,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">walking icy miles around the drifts </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to get what supplies she could carry.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew the sheep on my uncles farm </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">would need to be searched out of what ever winter fastness they had found for themselves away from the safety of the farm,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and that men, dogs,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and the beasts themselves would be at risk.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjNRjghmhfbR3CL6IkMky8TvTBzS_0EHC1AwwLOA8sovzhel5Ss0syN7406LiZQ0mxMY3Xnzc2Tn821ZPYaRyMPctxjArEzwq5cQoyyyEfXeg2IZE5e6be6ufAu3s1_XP9aSYGoNu1mVc/s1600/snowy+landscape6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjNRjghmhfbR3CL6IkMky8TvTBzS_0EHC1AwwLOA8sovzhel5Ss0syN7406LiZQ0mxMY3Xnzc2Tn821ZPYaRyMPctxjArEzwq5cQoyyyEfXeg2IZE5e6be6ufAu3s1_XP9aSYGoNu1mVc/s1600/snowy+landscape6.png" height="593" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew the attendant difficulties and anxieties all too well,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> so I had no excuse for the continuing song in my heart asking the snow to close in around us </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as tight as my mother's nursing shawl.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QMBxYOrE5wsmKcvPqTNuZgrOzMSsubuoKpQaTCvSYaZV0oiLBWr75BF0IYtiCqFXkt8hM9Cu1VEZ14u-432x5P1mzvEPqhNiBg4X4-BUUlVdRYq7qvor_VNB39o9bIhQJNI_D05oS73A/s1600/snowy+landscape3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QMBxYOrE5wsmKcvPqTNuZgrOzMSsubuoKpQaTCvSYaZV0oiLBWr75BF0IYtiCqFXkt8hM9Cu1VEZ14u-432x5P1mzvEPqhNiBg4X4-BUUlVdRYq7qvor_VNB39o9bIhQJNI_D05oS73A/s1600/snowy+landscape3.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As simple as it sounds it was the thought we were shut in </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which thrilled me so much.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For me there was a wonderful freedom</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> in being held in the silent heart of the snow. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The whole world,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(as far as I could reach it),</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">smelt different, with a clean, sweet smell.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The silence too was sweet,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">bound as it was by the mourning of the wind in the chimneys,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or sloughing around the sides of the house,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> carrying flurries of snow on it's breath.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew all too soon the drip, drip,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> of the thaw would break through, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with it's dirty grey weals </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wounding the purity of the crisp white skin</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that had appeared impregnable while the cold held.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Life would return to normal,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> and the ordinary day to day comings and goings,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">noise and disruption would ensue.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Snow or no snow,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">strange kid that I was,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I truly preferred it the other way.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DzzbltuFpvEljZ5djKTWWMYmeCNOyMWFUBBxVcJTKZFJH7nMRWOaeDBLWZ8JRzXcFtgfnu9RMB9mqz91IImFEsKVbAnkFltRPOZOVTA9oG4d3KCLZr7Jot0GnsSUdG-UW7bU3ESrZzIG/s1600/snowy+landscape7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DzzbltuFpvEljZ5djKTWWMYmeCNOyMWFUBBxVcJTKZFJH7nMRWOaeDBLWZ8JRzXcFtgfnu9RMB9mqz91IImFEsKVbAnkFltRPOZOVTA9oG4d3KCLZr7Jot0GnsSUdG-UW7bU3ESrZzIG/s1600/snowy+landscape7.jpg" height="640" width="504" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have been reminded of all this in the weeks of Advent.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As I tried to keep an inner silence in my wait</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> for the coming of the Christ Child,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I often became aware of a silence of the heart,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">like the fastness of my early snowbound home.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I puzzled over the sensation,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">trying to tease a meaning from the sense memory,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so sweet, and fresh, and pure;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so other than than my own heart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am left with the sense that a new word for 2015 was forming, (unrecognized 'til now),</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for my prayerful focus.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I believe my new word is</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>peace.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>For so long I have yearned for</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> the inner sanctuary of my heart to be a place, </i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>not only to withdraw and know God's peace</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> when I am disposed to be peaceable,</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> but for there to be at the core of my being</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> an engine room of peace,</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> so badly needed by my volatile disposition.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">I am so truly grateful for tastes of the deep tranquility</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">I feel I have been shown</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> through these memories </i></b><b><i>of the silent </i></b><b><i>holding</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"> of the pure mantle of the snow, </span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">with the warm lamp of home burning love at the centre.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>May He be our Home and our Hearth,</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Our Peace and Our sweet Keeping.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Be Blessed</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-17427975943639058612015-01-02T05:33:00.002-08:002015-04-20T12:29:11.548-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="border-image: none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQ6Rm_dzCqKTEPpOARs4OGtdcfw941Na36RxqhexoDBMeNXj4pZQsojV_8TfFUWscTpl5o8Ho5JafVcBvk1Isix9st_eVcivvmq_VEWebW0S0cXXjnkYPjpVXCmFoyzBeOuzDj1zw_04q/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02170.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQ6Rm_dzCqKTEPpOARs4OGtdcfw941Na36RxqhexoDBMeNXj4pZQsojV_8TfFUWscTpl5o8Ho5JafVcBvk1Isix9st_eVcivvmq_VEWebW0S0cXXjnkYPjpVXCmFoyzBeOuzDj1zw_04q/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02170.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDGKMGfHpXW0AgNBOmpBrqepsa9f7IcOWWnpLNXSIocaknwpVy9OfJyhXhAt4sStuPq7YVven_l2_kyPApHDH0FTV9c_tcjnxDmYd2p4YtKPbPWjH-OhIYnGZ37Xb_HdZVSI07DJo5JX3r/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDGKMGfHpXW0AgNBOmpBrqepsa9f7IcOWWnpLNXSIocaknwpVy9OfJyhXhAt4sStuPq7YVven_l2_kyPApHDH0FTV9c_tcjnxDmYd2p4YtKPbPWjH-OhIYnGZ37Xb_HdZVSI07DJo5JX3r/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02182.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Xtiantu9tgYSnvxkcTS-4qs3ZJnfT2sSoBFMx64xNjWpuHh3k18WhWHWt0u87uFuTQCsdKWsExijAsGOEhMvPSj2ZEGuFr0XaWzfTaCq5DH6JNSfgFXb-oCJOcygAJw-XADQw1reKmkm/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Xtiantu9tgYSnvxkcTS-4qs3ZJnfT2sSoBFMx64xNjWpuHh3k18WhWHWt0u87uFuTQCsdKWsExijAsGOEhMvPSj2ZEGuFr0XaWzfTaCq5DH6JNSfgFXb-oCJOcygAJw-XADQw1reKmkm/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02183.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HDSSupbmpFXv2M4Nig5em36uRvr8xJBceJD3CADGlNyfWdDN68dv8lqvGKL-onO8A-_VgJVQ8GmIHJY910GkMDdqEpDjUm18G2slSSpdHpRDxNPXArWClr41M0DqyPAeYuxcsAEOGCCh/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HDSSupbmpFXv2M4Nig5em36uRvr8xJBceJD3CADGlNyfWdDN68dv8lqvGKL-onO8A-_VgJVQ8GmIHJY910GkMDdqEpDjUm18G2slSSpdHpRDxNPXArWClr41M0DqyPAeYuxcsAEOGCCh/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02188.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the taffeta rustle of the dry leaves song </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="border-image: none;">
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the wind whispers through them.</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6HHmr5LNbITAFUol1P3uMyRwG8f7yy0GIb-4JS7IqCI4I47rKG-CbXq0_9MAKyWmkyhklbT8pNVr4PuiAPgx1hp-TvNpdNC_cUlHs_CN4zVn8csy3dfJORb7Xc8NK9wJDCgCEfJ9IZCI/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6HHmr5LNbITAFUol1P3uMyRwG8f7yy0GIb-4JS7IqCI4I47rKG-CbXq0_9MAKyWmkyhklbT8pNVr4PuiAPgx1hp-TvNpdNC_cUlHs_CN4zVn8csy3dfJORb7Xc8NK9wJDCgCEfJ9IZCI/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02168.jpg" height="640" width="611" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the tremble of far off spring in the catkins promise.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<div style="border-image: none;">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyoGlkDy6DsDrFc9o2ZiMWyCSsrX487zPAqJbNpFUvFmy6kdvzRdLwzQ98FmGc0aP2YEp1C5w2umUqVIctNBmdPnD4nWNN7tM_lu4mkZuOtVdCo5kduWqBlBXTVFhbu_qJFVyC_2CLO7A/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyoGlkDy6DsDrFc9o2ZiMWyCSsrX487zPAqJbNpFUvFmy6kdvzRdLwzQ98FmGc0aP2YEp1C5w2umUqVIctNBmdPnD4nWNN7tM_lu4mkZuOtVdCo5kduWqBlBXTVFhbu_qJFVyC_2CLO7A/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02185.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-image: none;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the sea swell dance of the blue conifers</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBqV_P2KGCWIBSNF4SUF6mJZ5pd6QSjRr1u8jh3edOmqTn63ni1-1cvsu8Q4QljSoLSaFkdDHR1QRbs0_j1ZjP0Fa75Nwe_Cpj9VOzvOvJ-KyqP2WCSr465woYXUD9W_OwT6TyIf39TFBi/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBqV_P2KGCWIBSNF4SUF6mJZ5pd6QSjRr1u8jh3edOmqTn63ni1-1cvsu8Q4QljSoLSaFkdDHR1QRbs0_j1ZjP0Fa75Nwe_Cpj9VOzvOvJ-KyqP2WCSr465woYXUD9W_OwT6TyIf39TFBi/s1600/Coventry-20150102-02187.jpg" height="500" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> For the beauty of the earth,</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the beauty of the skies.</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the beauty from our birth,</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Which over and around us lies.</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Gracious God to Thee we raise,</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This our grateful song of praise.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This song accompanied on my walk this morning</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hope the Rutter setting below will bring you</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> as much joy as it did me.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/PaMkj4_H8WM/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/PaMkj4_H8WM&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/PaMkj4_H8WM&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Blessings</span></i></b></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-33430303304745000822014-12-31T08:54:00.000-08:002014-12-31T08:57:49.607-08:00Greetings for 2015 <div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Marking the New year </i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>is a little like drawing a line in the sand of the beach.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>The great ocean of time washes over it</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> and we realise it was</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>just a mark of our own making.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>The moment of a New Year breaking</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>helps us take stock perhaps;</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>in truth every moment of life offers us new opportunities.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>How great is that?!</i></b></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxN3oWXD6bLWpDNFGa2hyphenhypheneuKVEnGh4XI30vWwywWfhTqOprZ-EE5-iHbDdNVe6gDmkGr0gmxqMm6WDRqpVRA6AWmBhV3__whfZ9QCMmhj_fO14fNMOA4GkHdEBlmqhz89-TnCjkQGWV6wX/s1600/happy-new-year-images-2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxN3oWXD6bLWpDNFGa2hyphenhypheneuKVEnGh4XI30vWwywWfhTqOprZ-EE5-iHbDdNVe6gDmkGr0gmxqMm6WDRqpVRA6AWmBhV3__whfZ9QCMmhj_fO14fNMOA4GkHdEBlmqhz89-TnCjkQGWV6wX/s1600/happy-new-year-images-2015.jpg" height="452" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://stylipics.com/happy-new-year-2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>May You and Yours Know the Richest Blessings</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b> In the Year Ahead.</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>May Not the Least of These Be</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b> Laughter!</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB86Nl-JVqqBZBMGQu3en6ShKbJo2UOTaYANndyhMuCdo7JxPN9sTnv3lCYF-fBljlkaDNxhx0JGReMcpyhF2l1BB8DPPUWLx5pNC2FteqDRdgYdR6gfiHlOWAvoJT6jlVe1mDA-esAmLN/s1600/Happy-New-Year-funny-Quotes-2015-lol-new-year-2015-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB86Nl-JVqqBZBMGQu3en6ShKbJo2UOTaYANndyhMuCdo7JxPN9sTnv3lCYF-fBljlkaDNxhx0JGReMcpyhF2l1BB8DPPUWLx5pNC2FteqDRdgYdR6gfiHlOWAvoJT6jlVe1mDA-esAmLN/s1600/Happy-New-Year-funny-Quotes-2015-lol-new-year-2015-.jpg" height="353" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://happynewyear2015wishesquotesmessagessmsimageswallpapers.com/<br />
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4238214236579909688.post-79251823874511328312014-12-30T12:03:00.003-08:002014-12-30T12:06:16.808-08:00Winter Afternoon in Kenilworth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxCWEc6A5bNjvQzRl30OIQ95W40Z7G-uLUn5KyiSN_oqCLytluO3M-tR6fpmHTFe4H0I57Zo56XFe9WyEFylXx7CbqA9aE5bmszWohXmhi-Q9eOAaZSFEacSZI2LpfTq34_tMt2ZYzh10/s1600/Warwick-20141230-02156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxCWEc6A5bNjvQzRl30OIQ95W40Z7G-uLUn5KyiSN_oqCLytluO3M-tR6fpmHTFe4H0I57Zo56XFe9WyEFylXx7CbqA9aE5bmszWohXmhi-Q9eOAaZSFEacSZI2LpfTq34_tMt2ZYzh10/s1600/Warwick-20141230-02156.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We walked the paths of Abbey Fields today as the winter sun sank over the frozen water.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If we had come across monks from the long disappeared abbey,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or the Virgin Queen's courtiers making their way to the ruined castle, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it would have been no surprise.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Why does dusk have this magic sense of timelessness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and edge of mystery I wonder?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I only know,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
even as we await the beginning of a New Year tomorrow,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
there was a sense of seamless eternity in the chill air today.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Be Blessed</span></b></i></div>
Hazelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08496802877173505042noreply@blogger.com1