April 2009 (Vol. XXII, No. 4)

Dear friends...Blessings of Springtime renewal and growth—Nature’s eternal new beginnings, a time to be still and listen.

 She whispers to us in blue sky days, where bird songs fill the air as the work of nest building and birthing create fresh starts, new hope. She invites us to co-create with Her to renew the Earth! She speaks to us of Her sickness and pleads with all to come to Her aid. She weeps with those who bear the brunt of Her inevitable storms and droughts that are but terrible Wake-Up calls to every one of us.
 
Nature is showing us that the time is now as She calls us to the Great Work of renewal, peace, justice, and Love . . . For, She knows that we are blessed as we honor Her Body, as we work--even in small ways--for Her survival, as we take responsibility to help Her heal and, once again, know well-being. And, as we respond, we will come to know that we are One in Being in the Divine Milieu of Life . . . and, rejoice!

The Divine Feminine encourages interdependence

Pythia Peay Soul Sisters

The Divine Feminine encourages interdependence, interconnectedness, and mutuality: instead of dominating and controlling nature, the Divine Feminine represents reverence for nature’s web of life. Instead of dismissing feelings and emotions, the Divine Feminine interprets them as a source of wisdom.

Tending a garden nourishes the human desire

Anita Lange The Patient Reach for Light
Tending a garden nourishes the human desire to give form to mystery and offers ground for growth, not only for plants that nourish and delight, but for engagement of self and the world. There is a sacramental element in watching a living thing flourish under our care toward its full potential, and what this nurturing opens in us becomes written on the human soul. 

Be the thing you see

John Moffitt
To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long. . . .
 
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.

Snow crystals on a trembling leaf

Unknown

Snow crystals on a trembling leaf,
along the river where we talked at
the tip of Spring; fresh air, moist
lavender sky--the silence following
a blessed rain that came, bringing
us to beauty; a tiny wild flower
under the shadows of a moss-covered
log; as if to say, I am the first smile,
the new beginning of heaven.

God did not grant me the gift of art

Douglas Gillies Robert Muller's

God did not grant me the gift of art. I had to express myself in my own life, in my thoughts, in my feelings, in my dreams and ideas, and in my love for all humanity and the Earth. I feel human, totally ecstatically human. I will help this planet, with all my abilities and love, to become what it was always meant to be: the planet of Love, a true miracle in the universe, inhabited by a happy, fulfilled, peaceful, loving humanity, thankful for the miraculous gift of life.

To see all things at their origin puts us in kinship with all that lives

Jean-Yves Leloup The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary
To see all things at their origin, their beginning, puts us in kinship with all that lives: trees, birds, stars seem foreign to us only inasmuch as we perceive them outside of our common origin with them. To drink at the source of all that lives and breathes expands the heart and makes the blood sing, echoing the song of all the vital fluids in the world. To dwell near all beginnings is to draw infinitely near to that which creates both the unity and the diversity of all beings.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread

John Muir The Yosemite
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength
to body and soul alike.

I dream of a world where all beings are honored

Susan Kleihauer Spring '96, Earthlight #21

I dream of a world where all beings are  honored, where earth, air, fire and water are held to be sacred. For me, living more simply is an important step toward helping to create this world... Voluntary simplicity is a tiny thread in the cosmic process. It is said that one cell’s action affects the whole universe. This means that whatever we do as individuals does make a difference.

 

The imperatives of our own being

Thomas Berry

We cannot discover ourselves without first discovering the universe, the earth, and the imperatives of our own being.

Come into the light of things

William Wordsworth

Come into the light of things.
Let nature be your teacher.

There is nothing in me that is not of the earth

Richard Nelson

There is nothing in me that is not of the earth, no split second of separateness, no particle that disunites me from the surroundings. The river runs through my veins, the winds glow in and out with my breath, the soil makes my flesh, the sun’s heat smolders inside me. A sickness or injury that befalls the earth befalls me. A fouled molecule that runs through the earth runs through me. Where the earth is cleansed and nourished, its purity infuses me. The life of the earth is my life. My eyes are the earth gazing at itself.

When the lessons of equality are learned on earth

Paul Ferrini Love Without Conditions

When the lessons of equality are learned on earth, the electro-magnetic field of the planet will change and earth will give birth to a new, more glorious curriculum. The seeds of this transformation have already been sown. Our job is to water and nurture them.

Spring comes a smug cliche of fat buds

Peggy Pond Church This Dancing Ground of the Sky
Spring comes
a smug cliché of fat buds
the earth is getting ready
to spring spring upon us
the birds are making a racket
in the bland air.
 
Why do I growing old
in all this abundance of life
say to death, move over,
let us sit together a moment
on the doorstep?