This morning I was considering what a blessing it is to be alive
Here, Now
in this beautiful place.
The greens of summer are delighting me with their vibrant lushness. Everywhere I look, it seems, I see green. Over the course of the summer the greens will change. Colors may fade or deepen. Leaves will become tattered and torn. But now everything still looks fresh and new.
It occurs to me that watching the seasons closely is a way to learn about the seasons of our own lives. Nature teaches us about birth and death and all the stages in between.
The cottonwood tree in our backyard has been scattering seeds and fluff for at least a week. But with all the recent rain most of it has disappeared from sight already. I enjoyed watching the duck family skimming the cottonwood seeds off the top of the pond water. Who knew that they would enjoy such a treat?
Yesterday I noticed that the size of the mallard duck family I’ve been watching had been halved overnight. Two days ago there were six lively adolescent ducks in the family. Yesterday morning (and all day long) I saw only three youngsters with their mother. I couldn’t help wondering if the mother mourned the loss of half her young family. I know I felt sad at the loss. At the same time I realize that death is happening all the time in nature all around us. For me seeing and acknowledging the cycles of nature including birth and death help me to walk through the seasons of my own life where losses inevitably occur at the same time as life begins anew each spring.
An Observation
True gardeners cannot bear a glove
Between the sure touch and the tender root,
Must let their hands grow knotted as they move
With a rough sensitivity about
Under the earth, between the rock and shoot,
Never to bruise or wound the hidden fruit.
And so I watched my mother’s hands grow scarred,
She who could heal the wounded plant or friend
With the same vulnerable yet rigorous love;
I minded once to see her beauty gnarled,
But now her truth is given me to live,
As I learn for myself we must be hard
To move among the tender with an open hand,
And to stay sensitive up to the end
Pay with some toughness for a gentle world.
— May Sarton
Loving life,
Every Little Bit of It,
means loving even the hard parts as well as the easy parts. Choosing a joyful life means being willing to embrace every little bit of life, in order to live a more expansive and passionate life. What are you embracing today my friends? Life is to be lived, not fixed, here, now, in this moment.
May you walk in beauty.
Note: This morning while roofers pounded away on the roof of our house removing and replacing the shingles, I distracted myself by playing with adding layers to different kinds of recent photos, ordinary ones, intentional camera movement images and simple flower photos.
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