This morning I’ve been thinking about the question,
What Sustains You?
Summer and it’s gifts of soft breezes, sweet summer walks in nature, bounteous beauty, and sweet summer fruits and vegetables, is passing.
Poetry and art will sustain us. — Eileen Kohan
As summer rushes past and the amount of daylight each day begins shortening, I live suspended between daily wonder and delight, and dreading the end of summer days.
It seems that only yesterday I was dreaming of summer and now here we are sliding through the last of our summer days.
August
When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend
all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking
of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body
accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by there is
the thick paw of my life darting among
the black bells, the leaves; there is
the happy tongue.— Mary Oliver
Living the question
How will I spend these precious days? Dreading the winter season ahead or delighting in each present moment? I choose to bring myself back to the present moment as often as I can, soaking in the delights of each day and feeling gratitude.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. — Annie Dillard
As I wrestle with staying present and appreciating each moment I ponder the question, “What sustains you?”
And the word art tree above answers that question.
There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading — that is a good life. — Annie Dillard
So now I ask you, as the seasons turn, what sustains you? Are you storing up memories of warmth and beauty? Do you wake up every day determined to live each moment in joy and gratitude?
May you walk in beauty.
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