Once in a while
I experience a fear of missing out
on a dream to take music on the road
Then I have the experience like I did yesterday
when together with friends we sang with folks
In the memory care community just down the highway
And I realize that beyond my wildest imagination
I’ve had an amazing lifelong journey of music ministry
and any fear I may have about missing out is laughable
With a celebration of our country’s birth July is fast approaching. The life of our nation and of all countries around the globe is drawn from the health & well-being of Mother Earth
Many things are needed for the health of our planet.
Here is one thing I have chosen to do this July:
I will learn how to reduce single use plastics
in my home and daily life from this month onward.
What will you do in July out of love for your country and for precious Mother Earth? What one thing for life now and for future generations? Consider joining me and millions of others to go plastic-free.
How incredibly astounding that even when
I can’t visit the forests, hike the mountains,
or walk along ocean shores
I can see and rejoice
in the handiwork of our maker
by flowers in planters on display in our home
So, it’s hats off to a green-thumbed Carol
and to countless others who help bring to light
the loveliness of creation right under our nose
For those who want to dig into this pondering a little deeper, I offer this liturgy for the planting of flowers written by Douglas McKelvey in Every Moment Holy, Volume One: To read it simply click and expand. 😊
I went to his door again today
101 and still not done
praying for another day’s work if he may
as we watched his donkey grazing in the sun
First it was a sleeping machine
Then it became clear I need aids to hear
Now I have to have a pacemaker implanted
Laugh as I may, all this prompts today
big feelings & questions deep down inside
and I face a substantial leap of faith
Can I still count on God’s gift of dreams? Will
aids distract from what my soul longs to hear?
Will I lose the shimmer of Spirit in my heart?
Later life alive calls for a spiritual discipline
choosing to shine with the light and love of God
through artificial parts and all!
This holiday weekend gives me pause to ponder
why in the midst of so many distractions I yearn
for some hard task to quite my mind and make me whole
But doesn’t the Sabbath offer the same?
To focus on the still, quiet voice within,
with eyes of faith on the rising sun
Celebrating the Spirit of Love
with simple words and gentle acts of kindness,
a year-around language all can understand
Giving thanks for flowering trees this spring
in Minnesota, and for one in particular I planted
In loving memory just before I moved to the Pacific Northwest, fourteen years ago.
There she stood as I walked through the old neighborhood, bright and beautiful in the morning sun, bringing to mind a wisdom Psalm and the blessed life it promises then, now, and forever.
“They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”
Psalm 1:1-3
‘Tis the season of “What’s next?”
In the Spirit of ascension we discern our next step
Bold to make grace known
Today I give thanks
for having lived long enough
on the Lower Columbia
To experience a place
where the river and the roads
are not a way but home
One day a road will take me elsewhere,
an island in the Puget Sound
God willing
But home is wherever I live
forever in the presence
of my Prime Mover
…A new poem
in honor of National Poetry Month
