**Image via Pixabay; text box added by Natalie
Category Archives: Notes
1142. A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future. ~Author Unknown
A mother’s love for her child
is like nothing else in the world.
~Agatha Christie
(Upper left photo-my mother’s mother, upper right photo-my mother, lower left photo, me, lower right photo-my daughter)
Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us all within our mothers? ~Edited excerpt from Job 31:15 ✝
Happy Mother’s Day to all. Be thankful, as am I, that though conceived out of wedlock, my mother did not choose to end my life in utero, for from the moment of conception, all life is sacred and not man’s to take.
1141. At the end of the day, love and compassion will win. ~Terry Waite
The thing is, at the end of the day
you still have to face yourself.
~Dave Pelzer
At the End of the Day: A Mirror of Questions
What dreams did I create last night?
Where did my eyes linger today?
Where was I blind?
Where was I hurt without anyone noticing?
What did I learn today?
What did I read?
What new thoughts visited me?
What differences did I notice in those closest to me?
Whom did I neglect?
Where did I neglect myself?
What did I begin today that might endure?
How were my conversations?
What did I do today for the poor and the excluded?
Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different?
Where did I allow myself to receive love?
With whom today did I feel most myself?
What reached me today?
How deeply did it imprint?
Who saw me today?
What visitations had I from the past and from the future?
What did I avoid today?
From the evidence – why was I given this day?
~Excerpted lines by John O’Donohue
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! ~2 Corinthians 9:10-15 ✝
**Image via Pinterest
1140. I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony. ~Gustave Flaubert
You can listen to silence, Reuven.
I’ve begun to realize that you can
listen to silence and learn from it.
It has a quality and a dimension all its own.
It talks to me sometimes.
I feel myself alive in it.
It talks. And I can hear it.
…
You have to want to listen to it,
and then you can hear it.
It has a strange, beautiful texture.
It doesn’t always talk.
Sometimes – sometimes it cries,
and you can hear the pain of the world in it.
It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to.
~From THE CHOSEN by Chaim Potok
Be still and listen to the rhythm of your beating heart.
Be still and feel the in and out movement of your breath.
Be still and find the peace at the center of your being.
Be still and seek the presence of your inner child.
Be still and remember childhood’s simple pleasures.
Be still and recall the unadulterated innocence of a child
Be still and let joy now bubble up from gratitude for the gift of life.
And finally in the silence of your thankfulness be still and listen so that you hear the Lord calling you by name.
Be still, and know that I am God… ~Excerpt from Psalm 46:10 ✝
**Images found on Pinterest and Pixabay
Spring’s Hope ~
May this Spring,
bathe you in God’s light
so you can receive
the power of His might.
May Springs warmth,
make God’s mercy rise
so that to His ways
you’ll not compromise.
May Springs buds,
blossom in your heart
so from God’s path
you will never part.
May Springs song,
chime within your soul
so that your life
God can have control.
May the new life,
Spring always brings
cause you to be . . .
thankful for all things!
~~~~~~~
” Let thy mercy, O Lord,
be upon us, according
as we hope in thee.”
King James Version
Public Domain
Copyright 2016
Deborah Ann Belka
1139. If it’s drama that you sigh for, plant a garden and you’ll get it. ~Edward A. Guest
‘Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume…
~Excerpt from a poem by Thomas Hood
One of my favorite poems in all of “poemdom” is this one below by Robert Browning. In fact I recite it to myself at least once every spring.
The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in his Heaven—
All’s right with the world!
Spring began very early here, almost a month and a half ago, but this morning was the first one exactly like the quintessential spring morning of which Browning spoke. A heavy dew had blanketed everything that lay before my eyes making grass and flower sparkle, and in the sparkle was the sort of magic that thrills this old gardener’s heart beyond measure. So I sat spellbound forever so long in my chair watching the birds feed and the squirrels play and the breeze ruffle petals and leaves. My little piece of Eden was gloriously alive as well as all of her adoring paramours. What a magnificent sight to behold it was as light oozed into all the dark corners, not only outside the window but also in the windows of my being! What had been created in the beginning continually points to the Creator, and oh what a Creator He is! My eyes were filled, my ears were filled, my cup of life was filled, and in and of it all was Yahweh, that Holy Presence, who continually fills my soul with His goodness and grace. Oh how I adore Him and His wondrous Eden!!!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ~Psalm 23: 6 ✝
Today’s Quote
Still Point
Max Reif describes the rush of life and the calling of nature somehow overriding that rush. The poem reminded me of biblical passage from Matthew 6:28 describing lilies as just being.
What is my hurry? What roots me in this place and time? I overlook the depth of those questions. I enjoy reading Wendell Berry‘s essays about farming. He reminds me that farming is a love of place and time. The small farm is home for people and nature. There is no separation.
My mother said farmers do not need Daily Savings Time. Depending on the time of the year, they understand their work based on the time and space they are in at that moment. When I think of the world as unpatterned, I sense its majestic wholeness and not compartments, rendering them virtual.
Leaving home
for work
each day
I hear the trees
say “What’s your hurry?”
View original post 105 more words
The Light in Our Story
As our pen seeks the page, our hearts remember
the scars, the beauty of pushing through
the pain. But there is so much more –
we long to be filled with the right words
to inspire us, to inspire others
prophets with a pen
declaring freedom.
With oceans in our eyes scanning the horizon
searching for the purity to guide us
it’s a type of prayer really
opening up our minds
we create.
Pursuing those letters, the right combination
and suddenly with revelation,
there is light in our story
the love we need
in our poem.
Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies
Peace and blessings to everyone.
“When we love people, we give them hope.”
When shadows cross your path!
“When shadows cross your path,
remember they are but shadows, not reality.
When clouds obscure the sun,
remember they are but clouds.
When beset by trial and difficulty,
remember these are but birds of passage
that will continue their flight
when they have but rested for a short while”
– Spiritual Teacher Silver-Birch
Photo & text credit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spiritual-Teacher-Silver-Birch
Sacred Touches 