February 2016. Milham Park at sunset. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Stand still in that which shows and discovers.
~George Fox
Happy Tuesday morning with sunshine from my neighborhood of San Blas! Our solar star is making a strong appearance here in recent days. I’m grateful for its warmth and brilliance, and still truly missing Winter back in Michigan. While Stateside in early February with family for my birthday, I enjoyed a couple of days with white dust, enough to make a snow angel–and, bonus, flakes were freshly falling!
July 2013. Lake O’ the Clouds, Porcupine Mts. Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Yesterday with the Sun I took a few moments to recharge in San Blas Plaza near its waterfall fountain. Under tree shade on a bench with the chorus of rushing water, I sang. I sang to the eucalyptus grove visible above town and clouds passing overhead in distinct forms, to butterflies and dragonflies zipping around, to loved ones–near, far, the conversant and estranged.
At times when life’s fullness spills over like the waterfall fountain, I need to be still. Even as the pool keeps swirling, from a point of stillness I can find and follow the flow. I can shift with life’s moving pieces as they alter arrangement. And on days when Sun reaches through Sky, I welcome the Light. From direct contact to reflections through Water, the corners of my soul are illumined and warmed.
July 2013. Manado Falls, Porcupine Mts. Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
At times life’s fullness also can build in density and act like a dam, impeding connection with the life-giving waters or Source. By becoming still, the blockage can disintegrate and fall away. Then I am lighter, less dense as well as brighter. Recognizing the reliability of the process, though, doesn’t mean that I know exactly how it unfolds. Rather, the experience nourishes respect for the much I don’t know–the Unknown, The Great Mystery–and the much I have to learn.
These days I find life’s pace intense. Inspiration and opportunity grow from old “homework”, as shoots sprout from fallen trunks. What makes such growth possible? Death, decomposition, Earth, Water, Air, Light, and some stillness. Thanks to pauses between perturbations, from lightning storms to predators stalking, lessons continue to reveal themselves: that Love can flow again despite a current blockage, that Peace can prevail in place of pain, that Sun again will shine even if today is gray.
With blessings,
Mey
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
~ T.S. Eliot
June 2015. Northern Californian Redwoods. Redwoods grow in groups of circles, new shoots from fallen trunks.
