Bringing Light and Love

My dear friends, I know that none of us have had a year like this or a Thanksgiving week like this before.  I’m thinking of all of you who are doing the best you can to stay home and stay safe this week, forgoing celebrating in person together for Zoom gatherings or telephone calls.

Not being able to gather together and be with the ones we love is hard. But losing someone you love to COVID would be harder. I think of all the nurses, doctors, and other healthcare personnel who are working so hard to care for those who are sick and I send extra light and love to them.

Yesterday I began writing a blog post I called “Dark Days” but this morning I realized that I didn’t want to talk about dark days. Instead I want to remind you of all the joy and beauty in the world that are right in front of you every day. So today I am

Bringing Light and Love

I bought some pears last week and today I noticed that they are ripe. If I don’t make something with them today, they will spoil. As I pondered what I would make, I noticed the rosy color of one of the pears and had to take a moment to photograph it. Soon I was playing with my food in the best way possible, seeing possibilities and simply enjoying the beauty of a few ripe pears. Later, I will make something delicious with them. And I will enjoy their beauty in another way.

What can you find that’s beautiful inside your house today? Perhaps it’s the way light flows in or shadows on the wall. Maybe it’s a color or a shape that intrigues you. Perhaps it’s the shape of the bare tree limbs against the blue sky. Or you could, like I did, play with your food, finding beauty and sustenance in the fruits of the earth.

Choose Joy Every Day

Joy is not made to be a crumb

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate.

Give in to it.

There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be.

We are not wise, and not very often kind.

And much can never be redeemed.

Still, life has some possibility left.

Perhaps this is its way of fighting back,

that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world.

It could be anything,

but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins.

Anyway, that’s often the case.

Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty.

Joy is not made to be a crumb.

― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

Choosing beauty, choosing joy is a minute by minute practice. Yes the news is dark and many are suffering. But even in the midst of all of that, life continues to unfold with beauty and grace all around us. It’s not an either/or of light or darkness, it’s a both/and. Yes there is darkness, pain and suffering and yes, there is beauty and joy.

Joy would not deny the hardship, but would choose to acknowledge and face it no matter what the outcome

—  Margaret Feinberg

May you walk in beauty and joy.