Month: August 2024

This is a favorite of mine.

My sanctuary, my church is the forest. I deeply appreciate the words of Hazrat Inayat Kahn when he says, “There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader.”

So, she had me hooked when she suggested we take our busy hearts to the forest and remember the songs the leaves have been singing forever.

My Sufi teacher and friend, Saladin, early in our relationship, took me out into the forest and had me listen carefully for the whispering trees singing “Ishk Allah, mabud lelah” – God is Love, Lover, and Beloved.

I am of years lived, so far, seventy-one
And the leaves are singing still.
Alhumdulillah!

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What can I say that I have not said before?
So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.

~ “What Can I Say” from Swan by Mary Oliver ~

Hello friends,

It has been a long time and my life had become so full of wonderful things that I let this endeavor go.

But then, the world turned upside down when in early June, my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Suddenly I only had one job. To hold her and care for her as we walk this journey together. I let go of many of my responsibilities and dedicated all my time to her care, as should be.

Yet, as we begin to get into a rhythm and find our way toward acceptance and balance, I am again considering what parts of my life are important and which I might pick back up.

This site and the opportunity to share some of the beautiful insights and teachings that I find, or that come through this new journey, seemed like a good use of my time. Time that is more spacious now.

So, to start us off again – here is a profound and moving teaching that I received from my subscription to Fr Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations blog. It resonated with me and I thought about the best ways to share it. That inspired me to pick this up again. Hopefully, I can keep adding content regularly again going forward.

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Saying Yes to Life

Writer-activist Lydia Wylie-Kellermann considers how children offer us an opportunity to both give and receive wisdom necessary for life to flourish:

We all find the life that calls to our bones. Perhaps we nourish life by putting pen to paper or hands in the dirt. Perhaps we help those who are dying to walk with joy, or a classroom of kids to sing a little louder, or by feeding the birds. Perhaps we have claimed the title of aunt, uncle, godparent, neighbor, or friend to a beloved child. All of it is necessary.

Having kids has been one way for me to pour out my love in celebration of life. It has not made the grief lighter … perhaps it has deepened it. But it has also expanded my hope, my joy, my longings, and my insistence on what is possible in this moment. Community and imagination are powerful forces and gosh do these kids know how to call upon it. Don’t look away from death, but in its midst, choose life. Choose life. Choose life.

Wylie-Kellermann offers these words of wisdom:

Dear friends,
ask the hard questions.
Give thanks for uncertainty.
Trust yourself.
Lean into the wisdom of community.
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Know that the arc is long.
Lean on the ancestors.
Ask the creatures for advice.
Follow the wind.
Know that there is no right way.
Trust others on their path.
Find yours.
Embrace the mess.
Give your life to a
holy, undeniable “Yes!”
Whatever that yes may be.
And know, that this “had to happen.”
How lucky we are to be alive!

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Yes… give thanks for uncertainty and don’t take yourself too seriously! Words that feel important in this new journey as a caregiver.

Blessings to all of you dear readers, and welcome back.