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The Joy in Waiting

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My backyard neighbor is building a house
at the back corner of his yard.
It’s smaller than an apartment,
larger than a tool shed.
He climbs, bends,
measures, hammers.
Slowly it’s taking shape,
walls framed,
roof beams pitched just so,
a glass door on the far side,
windows all around,
lots of windows.
Is it a greenhouse?
A woodworking shop?
An office for himself
or his wife?
Maybe in his retirement,
he has taken up painting
or sculpting.
Maybe this is his studio.
I could ask,
but I think the joy will be in waiting,
wondering,
seeing how it turns out.
I once told a watercolor teacher
that I was disappointed in my painting
because it hadn’t turned out
the way I had envisioned.
She said, “If it turned out
the way you thought it would,
what’s the point?”
Ah.
The point is in the process,
in the trying,
in the discovery.
Still, I know my neighbor has a plan,
and I hope what he’s building
will turn out the way he wants.
As for me,
I’ll wait and see.

-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate 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.

Text and photos © Karyn Henley 2024. All rights reserved.

Absolutely Nothing

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So . . . I did nothing,

absolutely nothing

except sit in an easy chair where

I could see out the window.

I did nothing but watch

the sun cross the hardwood floor,

making golden puddles and

shifting the shadows

until lines angled

in a grid of windowpane parallelograms

with long diagonals pointing toward me—

or perhaps the reverse—

pointing away from me.

I did absolutely nothing

but watch dust motes drift in a flock

through a broad sunbeam

and think of how we breathe them in and out

all the time.

No doubt they are even now floating

on my out-breath.

Still, I did absolutely nothing

but listen to the Golden bark next door

until she was satisfied that whatever

she was barking at—or for—was

settled.

I did nothing but admire

how the sun glinted through the tips

of my cat’s fur,

outlining her back with white light.

Yes, I did absolutely nothing,

for, after all, this is the season of Lent,

and I have decided to fast

from frantic busy-ness.

Plus, my New Year’s resolution was

to reclaim one day a week

as a day of rest.

So all afternoon, I sat

in my easy chair

in the sun

with a view out the window.

I did absolutely nothing

and discovered that nothing

is really

Something.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate 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.

Text and photos © 2024 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Delight in This Day

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Spring danced her way into winter today,

slow twirl of skirts,

whispered breath,

face to the sun.

The birds joined her,

singing spring,

announcing her presence,

encircling her scent.

Delight in this day, they sing.

Now is the time,

for when Winter finds

that Spring has stepped into his timeline,

he will blow and blast and send her away,

insistent on taking back his season.

But for this day, this moment,

dear Spring,

you are here,

and I will dance with you.

– kh –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate 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.

Text and photos © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

To See Beauty

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“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty

never grows old.”

– Franz Kafka –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

I have a bit of news: My latest book, Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses, brief nature essays, meditations, and even a few poems, is now available for order. Its official release date is November 1. (Makes a great holiday gift!)

CLICK TO SEE SAMPLE

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.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved. 

A Breath of Sky

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“Come watch with me the shaft of fire

That glows in yonder West:

The fair, frail palaces

The fading alps and archipelagoes

And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas.”

– Thomas Bailey Aldrich –

Skies have been amazing this month: color-rich sunsets; mid-morning blue skies with one white puff of a cloud, moonglow on full moon nights, cloudy skies with layers rippled in every hue of gray, and great white cloud continents floating calmly overhead. There’s a peace to be found in taking a deep breath of sky.

Nurture peace, cultivate 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.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved. 

The Wind is Polished

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“Already it is October, and the wind blows strong to the sea

from the hills where snow must have fallen, the wind is polished with snow.”

– D.H. Lawrence, “Butterfly” –

 

At last cooler weather has come to my part of the world. I fill my lungs with calm air carrying the scent of wood smoke. I inhale a cold, sharp, snow-polished breeze. I breathe gusts of wind that rush and whirl and billow, shaking loose the shivering gold and red leaves, sweeping away the season past, and whispering sharp, clean hope for the season to come.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week (with silhouettes and reflections):

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

Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Mirth, Cheer, and Serenity

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“Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with steady and perpetual serenity.” – Joseph Addison –

Wishing you mirth, cheer, and serenity in this season!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – shadows from my Christmas tree:

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

Text and photos ©2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Cornerstone


A Heart Without Words

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“When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words

than thy words be without heart.”

– John Bunyan –

 

Prayer often has no words but is simply a heart silent and open and listening, searching and sensing and settling, like a child reaching out and grasping a mother’s hand. And that is more than enough. You are the prayer. Your heart is heard and loved.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, be the prayer, 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 longer posts on the art of noticing, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Long, Easy Strides

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“Who is narrow of vision cannot be big-hearted;

who is narrow of spirit cannot take long, easy strides.”

– Chinese proverb –

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

Nature of the week – toadstools on a carpet of moss:

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.

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

Being Alive is the Magic