For some there comes a time when a second chance is given.That time then becomes a celebration of the unrecognized gifts of the past and humble gratitude for the wonder of present.
This then is a collection of reflections and comments on life,work,love and faith to be sung ,and danced to, in thanksgiving for a second chance.
"It is said that once you have seen green flash , you'll never go wrong in matters of the heart"
" Another great difference between our civilization and yours is ...you admire the person who pushes their way to the top in any walk of life, while we admire the one who abandons their ego"
- Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer
" Often the reason why some do not believe in God is that they have often ceased to believe that God can love them"
- Thomas Merton
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The Green Flash
Consider the turtle and the hare
They say the turtle is calm and deliberate, no rush
Making progress when he sticks his neck out.
Consider that every day has a night,
Every competitive sport has an opportunity for a break-
A time out , a time for the athletes to take a breath.
Long duration competitions give the athletes
A time to recover and get reinvigorated for the next game or race.
Musicians have measures and and rests.
At the close of a composition there is a time for a break.
Notes without silence in-between is not music
Books and poems end, don't tell Joyce
Long distance hikes and solo global sailors
Seek the opportunity to nourish themselves.
Eventually sailors seek to secure serenity of a safe harbor.
Le Mans and Nascar drivers consider their fuel
And wear and tear on their vehicle.
Pit stops are critical .
These are the days that can last forever.
Zen monks patiently create sand mandalas
Then rest and wipe the creation of the colored grains away.
The art is in the doing not the completing.
The constant busyness distracts from the essence , the truth.
Pilgrims seem to learn all this a little to late sometimes.
Slow down, relax , regroup , be mindful,
Listen to the children play ,
Breathe slowly when sitting on the beach at sunset
The blessing of witnessing and savoring the green flash
"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying. It "consents," so to speak, to creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree."
- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
The Big Bang
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May Day! Walk to the Daylight!
On the first morning of May the wondering continued -
Someone said a Big Bang started it all.
What caused that bang or made those millions of parts
Blown to pieces scattering across the heavens ro give birth
To planets, stars, and on and on?
Imagine the universe a blank canvas with Jackson Pollock
As the divine creative force splattering colors
And leaving the result to interpretation?
Imagine believing that rolling multiple dice at once
Would lead to some mysterious unpredictable magical jackpot
Of magnificent complex creations interconnecting
With other accidental conceptions beyond simple imaginations.
Calling Mother Nature - "Can we start all over again?"
Who dared to make rivers and mountains borderlines?
Did the origins of species determine who and what would own how much?
Isn't there a truth woven in-between the lines of the great poems or songs?
Take a look at all the wasted things we thought we've known.
And how little humanity has grown.
Walk into the daylight , appreciate spring flowers,
Stopping the counting of minutes and hours.
Sometimes the real existence is being mindful
To how all is sacred
Leading us to where we need to be.
The oldest living human on earth
Said her longevity is a direct result
Of giving up worrying years ago while paying attention
To those broken and serving those in need.
Sometimes when hopelessness seems to be winning
Walk to the daylight... It is a choice.
Take off the coat of guesses and defenses
It all may surprise you . Remember how -
Augustine asked from that lonely outpost
"Is anyone out there?"
That ever-present mysterious holy voice responds whispering,
“ For Last Year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.”
- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Mind-ful-ness
The quality of state of being conscious or aware of something
The mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present movement , while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings , thoughts, and sensations, used as a therapeutic technique
