Soft sunlit memories

Stumbling over green clumps of soft earth.

Two little girls run against the currents of a gushing wind, that hurls itself across the hills and valleys, scoring tracks in the long meadow grass.

Red cheeks like apples shining in the sun of a girl's soft smile.

Eye's filled with wonder and expectation glance up at a sky worn to cloudy rags with the day's cares and traces of tears that can't be explained.

The glinting of light through naked branches and skeleton leaves.

Bleaches out the damp bruises of ruminating clouds.

Perched upon the mossy gate.

The dreams of children reach beyond a gaze in the distance.

The branches of trees grasp the fading light.

And turn to charcoal in it's cool fire.

Long grasses pick up the whispers of the wind.

A song without words

An Infinite Moment

The beginning of a new year brings to mind priorities.

Beginnings remind us of endings and in so doing allow us to realise more vividly than usual that every moment is infinitely precious.

"Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations."

(Khalil Gibran)

A friend of mine was reading a book of mathematics and came across an interesting idea based on Zeno's paradoxes:

It was an idea that proposed that infinity can be held within a moment.

For example, if you turn a light on for two minutes, then turn it off for one minute, turn it on for 30 seconds then turn it off for 15, each time halving the time as you turn it on and off, when does the time end? Does the light flicker on and off infinitly?

If every moment springs from an eternal source every moment surley contains the properties of eternity.

There is the potential to realise eternity in reflections of beauty, light, joy, grace and love in the infinite moments of everyday life.

And each thought, action, desire and intention whether positive or negative resonates beyond itself in someway. Impacting others and ourselves beyond our realisation.

Time is not simply a two dimensional, linear measurement of space. It has a volume and depth which touches beyond the markings that seperate days from nights and hour's from years.

So when my day begins, and the first moments of my waking, open my eyes. I begin!

I have the chance to begin again with every breath I take.

"I am going away with him to an unknown country where I shall have no past and no name and where I shall be born again with a new face and untried heart. "

(Colette)

And with that thought there lies another question. Before I go to sleep at night what is left? What might be drawn from the long shadows of another day done?

How many extraneous worries, doubts, fears and barriers may I have to subtract before finding what was truly important in that day. What was truly infinite in the hours and moments it contained.

What part of me is the eternal part?

Do I keep that part of my consciousness roused from moment to moment? Is it awake?

Is it the crest of the wave which brings me into shore, or does it sink to the bottom of my to-do' list and the day's dirty laundry?

Is the mirror which reflects only light the first thing I clean and wipe the dust off before I start my day or do my housework and chores come first?

Maybe I have to do some subtracting.

Peel back the layers.

Become hollow like the reed.

"There is an emptiness like the hollow of a reed, the narrow riftless emptiness which can only have one destiny: to receive the piper's breath and to utter the song that is in his heart.."

"And take repose, while music infinite
Is silence in your heart; and laid on it
Your reed is mute. "

( Caryll Houselander)

Every fragment of self, every moment of time a whole entity within itself containing the truth and the light of all.

From the smallest particle of dust to the enormity of a supernova. All are marked with the fingerprints of their creator. All hold the secrets of his love. Like the folded petals of a rose, cupped hands recieving the host, hollowed rocks that time erodes.

"10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe."

(Ephesians 10 )

The Whole measure is meant for us. Not small portions. No fragments of self, No allotments of life.

To become whole, we are asked to give all.

"How fortunate are you and I,
whose home is timelessness: we who have wandered down
from fragrant mountains of eternal now
to frolic in such mysteries as birth
and death a day (or maybe even less)."

ee cummings

A related link from Holy Experience

kairos andchronos

Winter Sunset

This photo was taken on a walk through our local woods last weekend.

I just love winter sunsets. The way the bare branches of the trees silhoette against the golden sky.

Believe it or not this picture was taken at 3:30 pm!

The days are so short this time of year. However the beautiful sunsets do compensate:0)

View From The Pews: The Tone Of The Voice

HERE'S A GREAT POST FROM
View From The Pews: The Tone Of The Voice

eNJOY

Increase My Love

Let love be the sweet elixir that awakens your spirit and moves your soul to dance.
Let your love be like the misty rain, coming softly but flooding the river.
Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

(Rossiter Worthington Raymond)

The story of a love is not important - what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

(Helen Hayes)

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons.

(Kahlil Gibran)

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.

(Song of Solomon 8:7)

May my love increase...

May my thoughts, be thoughts that increase my love.

May my words be words, that increase my love,

May my actions be actions that increase my love,

May what I resist increase my love,

May what I yield increase my love,

May what I recieve increase my love,

May what I give increase my love,

May what I read increase my love,

May what I write increase my love,

May what I say increase my love,

And the silences that remain increase my love.

Between even the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, if they succeed in loving the distance between them it is possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

The Epiphany

(Adoration of the magi, Giotto, fresco Padua)

"and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

(KJB translation .)

fUNNY gIRLS :0)

Here's a picture of my favourite comedy duo of all time.

They are a real double act.

Partners in crime. They work as a team to sneak snacks from the treat cupboard whenever Mummy isn't looking :0)

Don't you think they look a little Laurel and Hardy here heehee!

Here's a little gem from this evening :0)..."Oh Mummy can I have "Cheeky Massala" for dinner tonight." Piped up one little Bujana Grace. (aka girlie no.2)

She meant Tikka Masala of course :0)She's so funny!

Mummy Interrupted )

Sometimes it's good to be interrupted...

Yes it's easy to get frustrated when things don't go to plan, or time wriggles out of your control.

Yet time, graciously, cannot be micro managed with 3 little ones under four and a nearly ten year old however hard you try, so I have given up. Completely.

Okay the baby just woke up... Perfect timing;0P

...Okay all is quiet once more so I'm back...

Though right before that the other baby woke up too. The big baby. She'll be two in February and still likes her Mummies arms to rock her back to sleep after she wakes.

And so it is.

My days are not mine, my hours, my minutes.

My moments of peace. My joy, sorrow, frustration, impatience, fear, wonder and grace. They are not my own, I don't own them, they do not belong to me. And I am glad.

The way things are with a young family as a Mother surely makes this realisation evident. And while I struggled against this fact with babies number one and two, three and four most definitely called for a complete resignation of control. There was no other way!

My time was not my own even BB (before babies or before bedlam) insert that which applies best:0) I just didn't grasp the concept in practice so clearly before:0)

As I rocked my little/ big baby in my arms trying not to disturb her elder sister who sleeps beside her, a soft, quiet joy, pure and blissful , undetectably seemed to find its way into my heart. My thoughts must have stilled and cleared a space for it to pass.

As I became more aware, a gentle wave of calm washed through my tired arms, and refreshed my eyes, which had been aching for sleep.

When my eldest girl awoke, (it was bound to happen) she began to sing in a quiet voice; "Hush little baby, Hush don't you cry, the angels are watching and I am here close by."

The song from her nativity play barely weeks before. The peace that nothing else mattered but this moment left me suspended.

Yet the feeling of my little ones body, heavy with sleep in my arms, couldn't be captured or held down like an image imprinted on paper or a static photograph placed in a frame.

The most beautiful things in life can't else they lose all their meaning.

Like a poem, brief and essential, one breath of truth. Over too soon.

So my focus found the details that mattered in the dark, letting everything else fade away into the background.

The words I had began to write, the book I was reading, the laundry still tangled in a untidy pile downstairs, the cups on the draining board, the toys on the floor, the early night I had promised myself faded away while the details of the moment grew more vivid and defined.

My little girls soft hair, smooth and shiny, the soft down of babyhood almost grown out completely. The way her small hand clings as I rock her, head nuzzled under my chin, the sweet scent of milk still warm on her breath.

Before long she'll be grown. Full of self conscious words and long limbs just like her eldest sister.

But now, for this moment, time pauses in the darkness of this room. I'm glad I paid attention.

I'm glad these seconds were stalled for me tonight.

I'm glad I was interrupted:0)

New Year Promise

http://holyexperience.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-set-to-soar.html

This is such a beautiful piece of writing from Ann @ Holy Experience about the promise of a New Year.

I encourage you to click on the link above to read it, I'm sure you will find as much beauty in it as I did:0)

Much love and peace

Suzy

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Introducing...

I thought it was about time I introduced my long suffering husband.

Here he is... taken on Christmas day, my dearest, darling, husband Tani!!!

And here is the beautiful present he gave me. A rosary made in the holyland. The beads are made of crushed rose petals and carry the most beautiful aroma.

And if you happen to be visiting

Thanks again hon

An Advent Meditation

There is a deep longing within all people. We are born with it.

Like a distant memory of something precious that has been lost. The longing whispers in the ear like a long forgotten lullaby. Like a child in it's mother's arms the song consoles us even when we are to small to understand the words she sings.

This longing manifests itself as an ache within the heart, a swell of tears behind the eyes, and as a lethargy through the body.

All are traces of a memory. The memory of playing in a beautiful garden as a child. Carefree and joyful.

And the memory is real. It is the memory of our original place in God's kingdom, the place we left through sin and the place we long to return to.

We are all homesick little children in search of our Father. Only wishing for his arms to embrace us once again.

And that longing deep inside is his calling to us, his voice in the core of our souls. And the tears that flow from our eyes weep at the reflection of ourselves in the ocean of his love. We long to become as droplets dissolved into the ebb and flow of that distant blue shore. Our eyes stinging in the tierd awakening of the dawn light.

Advent brings this longing and expectancy we hold within us and bears it into the world with the birth of Jesus.

Mary, his mother , and ours, represents the child of the garden, free from sin and stain, Joyful in her abandonment to God's grace.

Jesus, the child of God is the flower that emerges from the dark soil of the earth and reminds us of a new Springtime.

His birth was a birth that gives life to all.

And that deep longing within us is led back to the garden once more by the little Christ Child.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

My daughter is in the school choir so she is a busy little bee at this time of year.

Last weekend she got to sing at a very lovely venue. A local castle near our home town!

It was a really memorable day with different traditional musicians in each room and a few Christmas treats in the old kitchen:0)

I had to share:)

Hope everyone is enjoying their last minute Christmas preparations

A Link for Lisa :0)

http://searchingbycandleight.blogspot.com/

LITTLE LAMB OF JESUS

Little lamb of Jesus,

Laid in the soft hay of a stable.

Beneath the warmth of a star,

And the kisses of Angels.

The Garment of His Love

The Fruit of Prayer
The fruit of silence is prayer

the fruit of prayer is faith

the fruit of faith is love

the fruit of love is service

the fruit of service is peace.
Mother Teresa

*

When we allow ourselves to see God in the smallest detail, he opens out the whole of creation to us.

*

When we come to him as a little child, a leaf blowing in the wind, naked as a winter tree.

He embraces us in the gravity of his love and clothes us in the garment of his PEACE.

A New Direction

I shall post here only very occasionally from now on.

This blog is quite personal and only a open to those on my blogroll. Mainly because there are pictures of my children and personal things about my family.

I just worry about my kids being exposed.

My new blog is @ http://searchingbycandleight.blogspot.com and is co-authored by a dear friend of mine. This way there will be time for more posts!

The aim of this new blog is to post extracts from spiritual works, poetry, prayers, quotations and the lives of the saints.

God Blessxx

Suzy