State of Grace

RIC_7780-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

        
     State of Grace:
     It's achieving the peace and
     freedom of living in the moment,
     and not allowing past wrongs
     to colour the present.

        Olivia Chow, My Journey

Light

North Bramalea United Church, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Death is not extinguishing the light,
     it is only putting out the lamp
     because dawn has come.

        Rabindranath Tagore

Truth

DSC_0876-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Truth can appear as disaster in a land
of things unspoken.

Joy Harjo

Hope

RIC_8728-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.

John O'Donohue, 
Fluent

Finding Self

Five Oaks 9 (2013, 8.12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     As I lost my speech, I gained my voice.
     As I diminished, I grew.
     As I lost so much, I started to find myself.

        Neil Selinger

Process

RIC_0383-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You can't push the river.
It flows on its own.

Pema Chödrön

Blessings

Sunrise 5 (2013, 8.13), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Great spirit, father of us all,
Dear mother earth,
Combine your might
And use our love
To make this body whole,
For now and forever.

Judith Billings

Being Here

RIC_7336-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The closer we get to our own dying, 
the more amazed we may be at being here at all.

Mary Grace Orr

Dawn

Sunrise 2 (2013, 8.13), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     I arise in the morning torn between a desire 
     to save the world and a desire to savour the world.
     This makes it hard to plan the day. 

        E. B. White

Dawn

RIC_3417-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Death does not extinguish the light.

It puts out the lamp because the dawn has come.

Rabindranath Tagore

Choice to make

RIC_8758-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Live then or now.

It's impossible to be

in two places at once.

Mary Anne Radmacher,

Honey in Your Heart

Artist

RIC_9059-2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Not everyone can become a great artist,
     but a great artist can come from everywhere. 

        Anton Ego, Ratatouille (movie by Pixar)

Grace

RIC_8010-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The birds know,
as we sometimes do,
that the light does not dawn
because of our singing.
We sing
because the dawn appears
as grace.

Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude

Sabbaths

RIC_1125-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     

     And yet no leaf or grain is filled

     By work of ours, the field is tilled

     And left to grace.  That we may leap,

     Great work is done while we're asleep.

         Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

Loneliness

RIC_1207-2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     I am vehemently grateful that, by whatever means, I

     learned to assume that loneliness should be in part

     pleasure, sensitizing and clarifying, and that it is even a

     truer bond among people than any kind of proximity. 

       Marilynne Robinson, When I Was a Child I Read Books

Life of Compassion

RIC_1129-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We cannot eliminate hunger,

but we can feed each other.

We cannot eliminate loneliness,

but we can hold each other.

We cannot eliminate pain,

but we can live a life

of compassion.

Mark Nepo, Accepting This

.

Lost

RCC_6587, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

"Lost" for me is when I separate myself from what I know

to be true about myself. I become blind to my shadows

and wall myself off from others.

Tom Beech in Leading from Within: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Lead

by Sam M. Instrator & Megan Scribner

Music

RIC_1220-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When words leave off,

music begins. 

Heinrich Heine

Purpose & Kindness

RIC_7779-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Lord, let me shake

With purpose. Wild hope can always spring

From tended strength. Everything is in that.

That and nothing but kindness.

James Dickey, The Strength of Fields

.

What do you want of your life?

RCC_6610, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I asked myself the question, "What do

you want of your life?" and I realized

with a start of recognition and terror,

"Exactly what  I have – but to be

commensurate, to handle it all better. 

May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude