Strolling above the beach on a summer day off
a colleague told of a chance encounter
with a person who looked out on the ocean and said:
“Look at the view! Just look at the view!”
Words of wisdom from a complete stranger,
or was it an angel in disguise?
On my day off today I’m going to take some time
to really see what’s right in front of me.
And I hear Wisdom say, “You won’t be disappointed.”
There’s something about singing—
Be it a birthday jingle for a grandchild
or an anthem for some grand celebration,
by singing I enter the love song that flows like a river
Reading Gerard Manley Hopkin’s sonnet
God’s Grandeur
I take heart in the eternal freshness of nature
I have watched God’s grandeur rise from my own
feeling crushed
have trod and trod, yet my soul never spent
Now in my later years I have experienced
a ”dearest freshness of deep down things”
and to my delight— bright new wings!
Spiritual Practice:
Consider joining me in a learning circle for later life wellness. Contact me if you or someone you know might be interested.
Like a tree I am a slow,
enduring force reaching toward the heavens
Giving til every leaf falls off,
forever rooted in the promise of new life
Away from my many books this morning
I pondered just how much of what I’ve read
have I retained and to what end?
I may be like a little library to those around me
but of what good might my knowledge be
if not surpassed by wisdom and love?
Then I prayed that I might be
a good read for others today,
a source for what’s life-giving
The journey toward a healthier planet
begins on a path made by our own mistakes
and continues today when we lovingly
call Earth our Mother
Mary’s story is my story and probably your story too. Told not to be afraid., try something new, we are called to bear God’s goodness beyond what we first think we can do.
In quiet candle light, the day beckoning me
to a lifetime’s work of being and doing afresh,
giving need to One who formed me from dust
I felt bright white floating wings flutter in my soul
stirring a tingling, dazzling sensation inside me
and by this personal sentinel assured and secured
Life is too short to see all I want to see,
do all I want to do,
and achieve all I’ve deemed important
But to arrive at peace with a quiet mind
in a love relationship with Divine
is and forever will be my greatest prize, my all in all
For the past twenty years or more, contemplative spiritual practices have become the sure foundation of who I am and how I participate in every aspect of my life. However, the call to be alive in our later years is dynamic—both a quiet dwelling with the sacred in care of the soul and a lively act of involvement with others in community, sent out to use our signature gifts and talents to help heal a fractured world.
