Walking in Brenden Woods
with grandson Ro and his little dog Waffles
we chose to saunter and stop a bit
We placed our hands on an old cedar tree
and imagined how Waffles, with paw,
might do the same
From this sauntering in the woods I was enlivened
by terra firma, the cry of a bird, the feel of a tree,
and a boy with his dog as happy as can be
More and more the day is coming
when less will be my usefulness
And best the rest and shade I’ll be
for those in the heat of productivity
-Image by Crayon Productions
In quiet space of morning
with fresh coffee for the day
I taste goodness in sacred word
I’m glad to give away
I’ll speak life spoken
in word and in deed
I’ll sing songs with Spirit
that sets hearts free
I have a choice on how I voice
the many changes
that come with growing older
Will I sound the alarm
that youth is now gone
or speak of life and the beauties of aging?
And what in my older years am I to make
of my precious life now at stake
with signs of death at every corner?
I pray to stay strong in that endless song
graced me before birth to sing along
of goodness and mercy onto death and beyond
““See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.””
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Today I pause to consider
the voice I give
what in and around is happening
More aware of my choice
in the meanings I voice
to myself and those near to me
And at the end of the day
a word of thanks I will pray
for moments I voiced what’s life-giving
Making music together since 1969,
Gib and I joined the muse again last night
encouraging others to sing along
How do we know when we’re aging well?
When we step out of our habitual ways
and let in the songs and stories that give us life
Memorise is the preferred spelling
among some
for learning by heart
Sounds true that what
I want to be and do
must rise from that core of my being
So from all I see and hear today,
what words and deeds will I help rise
as true reflections of who I am?
I am listening on this feast day
for the melody of resistance
in modest Mary’s magnificent song
Her “let it be,” her “do less and be more”
a counterpoint to the muzak and rhetoric
that weigh on us today
Listening deeply, come what may
Her song of peace echoes on
and never goes away
The force of aging is like the tide going out
opening to us the fulness of life
forever coming from within
Shoes Off
I took my shoes off
That I like Moses might stand on Holy ground
Pondering softly the call of I Am
I but an atom In a single grain of sand
I and my “failures”
secure in God’s hand
Contributing to the evolution of humankind
Part in the transformation of what is
To still more glorious in God’s good time
