With full awareness of all that is ugly in the world, I am obsessing about beauty. I don’t believe these thoughts represent escapism so much as astonishment. A lesson that has unfolded for me over the past year is that nothing in this world is to be taken for granted. And so I’m trying to keep my eyes and my heart open and when I do this the beauty of life nearly overwhelms me, as does the impulse to experience, create, and extend this beauty, which represents Love. Continue reading
beauty
Gray day among yellow trees
This fall has been so beautiful I can hardly stand it. It is so beautiful it makes me weep. That is what happens, I guess, to the aging body and spirit. You become susceptible. I am developing a particular sensitivity to wonder. Continue reading
Real flowers
The flowers I arranged for an altar last weekend are kind of a mess today because they are just about to go. The glads are exploding in bloom to their very tips but, lower on the stalks, which are finding it harder to stay upright, the first blooms have already shriveled and dropped. The sunflower petals, crisp and smooth a few days ago, are twisting and falling. The goldenrod is dusted with its own pollen and drooping at the tips. Continue reading
A skiff of Advent grace
Sometimes all it takes is a skiff of snow to turn unfinished tasks like a pile of undistributed rocks into a feature in a larger beauty.
I’ve been looking for daily beauty and this morning’s snow, so light it might have been frost, obliged. Just enough to glorify the bare, brown earth, highlighting the bas relief of leaves and pebbles and sticks and mud. Even the concrete apron in front of the garage sparkles.
The daily beauty quest is one I’ve taken on for Advent. Continue reading
Beauty and retirement
I am a glutton for natural beauty. Last week, on our way to a wedding in Pennsylvania, we made a side trip to West Virginia and I was able to feed my craving for two full days in the mountains. It made me think about how I want to live the rest of my life. Continue reading
the practical mystic 