Here, Now, This Present Moment

Leafless branches arch,

angle, interweave to frame

cloud veils spun of ice.

– kh –

This is what I see at this moment from the window at my desk:

The tick of the clock on my bedroom shelf. The rush of a jet fading as it travels the icy winter sky. The quiet shiver and sway of vines in the chill breeze. This is my present moment as I write this last post of 2017.

Once again, time carries us toward the speed bump between one year and the next. That speed bump is always a marker of sorts, a chance to glance into the rearview mirror at the year falling quickly behind us before the new year carries us full speed ahead. Thanks for joining me this past year as I posted what I saw, what I read, and what I found inspiring, always with an eye, an ear, a heart open to peace.

That’s where peace starts, you know – in this present moment, here and now, in my eye and yours. In my ear and yours. In my heart and yours. As much as we’d like to wave a wand over the entire world and make the jumbled and jagged pieces smooth out and fall into place, peace has to start with each of us being peace and kindness for family and friends and co-workers and everyone we meet.

May 2018 be a year of peace so powerful that it spreads from each of us into the whole world.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm into the new year.

Nature of the week – the insides of acorn tops:

Shadow of the Week – from holiday decorations:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

Snow Puddles

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Crossing a bare common,

in snow puddles, at twilight,

under a clouded sky . . .

I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson –

Whatever the weather in your part of the world, may you enjoy a perfect exhilaration this weekend. Happy Holidays to all!

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

The Wind, the Moon, and You and Me

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

I have two poems for you today, the first a nursery rhyme:

The moon’s the North Wind’s cooky.

He bites it, day by day,

Until there’s but a rim of scraps

That crumble all away.

The South Wind is a baker.

He kneads clouds in his den.

And bakes a crisp new moon that – greedy

North – Wind – eats – again!

– Vachel Lindsay –

“[L]ike the moon,

you will sometimes be a crescent

and sometimes full.”

– Rumi –

Whether you’re at the crescent stage or the full moon stage or somewhere in between, may you reflect the beauty of this season back into the world.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

Mute Music

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“[E]very withered stem

and stubble rimed with frost,

contribute something

to the mute music [of winter].”

– Emerson, “Nature” –

Pause for a moment this week to enjoy stems and stubble, to listen to the shushing sound they make in the wind – or if the day is still, to discover the season’s mute music.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week: