In the Sun Among the Flowers

“Raise your head, look at the sun, walk among the flowers, become a human being.”

– Rumi –

You have to see these amazing National Geographic time lapse videos of flowers blooming. You’ll love them. Just click on this link. “Raise your head . . . walk among the flowers . . .”

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

At Our Waking

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,

Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy,

Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,

Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

– Jan Struther –

“All Day Hymn”

Wishing you bliss today and throughout the week.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

Living Life as it Comes

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“…holiness is made of dailiness,

of living life as it comes to me,

not as I insist it be.”

– Joan Chittister –

Nurture peace daily as life comes to you. Cultivate kindness and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

Dancing Toward Spring

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“. . . O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind.”

– Percy Bysshe Shelley, from “Ode to the West Wind” –

Winter and Spring are in their annual dance until Winter bows out and Spring takes center stage. Enjoy the dance of the seasons!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – Lenten rose:

Shadow of the Week – missed the cat but caught the shadow of her tail:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

Shadows Falling

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Quiet shadows falling

softly come and softly go.”

– Scottish poet Meta Orred –

Because of the angle of the sun, spring and autumn are good times to catch a glimpse of interesting shadows – at least in my part of the world. Shadows “softly come and softly go,” reminding us to softly come and softly go.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

Listening for Nature’s Secret Message

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“The whole culture is telling you to hurry,

while the art tells you to take your time.

Always listen to the art.”

– Junot Diaz –

I’ve posted nature’s art in bloom and shadow below. Notice nature’s art in your own part of the world this week. Listen to it telling you to take your time. Explore. Enjoy. Wonder.

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

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

A Child Asleep

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“A heart at peace gives life to the body.”

– Proverbs 14:30, the Bible –

On the way to the mailbox yesterday, I met my next-door neighbor, who happened to be going to her mailbox. My one-year-old grandson was with me, so I introduced them and apologized for his lack of enthusiasm. He’s in a shy stage. Plus, he was tired. It was nearly naptime. My neighbor, who is also a grandmother, beamed and asked, “Do you just hold him while he sleeps?” I admitted that, yes, in fact, I do. That afternoon as he napped in my arms, I thought of the amazing trust that allows a little one to so fully relax. Then I thought of how Jesus advised us all to be like little children. There’s a lot to unpack in that advice, but part of it is trust. I realized that as my grandson fully relaxed in my arms, I could fully relax in God’s.

“[I]n quietness and trust is your strength.”

– Isaiah 30:15, the Bible –

May your heart find peace and quietness, and may you sense the Presence that holds you.

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

(The sketch above is one I made of my own son sleeping when he was small. He’s now the father of the grandson I hold during naptime.)

Nature of the week –our neighborhood thinks it’s spring:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life and the wonder of it all, link here.

Before the Robins Sing

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“We must live through the dreary winter

If we would value the spring;

And the woods must be cold and silent

Before the robins sing.

The flowers must be buried in darkness

Before they can bud and bloom,

And the sweetest, warmest sunshine

Comes after the storm and gloom.”

– unknown author, from Poems That Live Forever –

The seasons of our lives seem to follow that same pattern – storm, gloom, and then sweet warmth. “I have been bent and broken,” said Charles Dickens, “but – I hope – into a better shape.”

May your heart bloom in the warm sunshine of hope.

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 and the wonder of it all, link here.

Valentine’s Best Secret in a Riddle

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

What can be divided endlessly and still not diminish?

That secret is not so hard to guess, but there’s another secret that Valentine’s Day will keep forever: how it began.

Some say that Valentine’s Day began with two saints in the early Christian church, both named Valentine, both said to have been martyred on February 14. One was a priest who secretly married couples after the Roman Emperor Claudius commanded that young men not marry (because single men were supposedly better soldiers). Another was a Christian jailed for not worshiping Roman gods. Children loved him so much that they tossed notes through his barred window. Since the Old French word galantine, meaning gallant or lover, sounded like Valentine, some say that people equated one or both of the St. Valentines with galantine and began to celebrate lovers on that day.

Other people say that Chaucer began the Valentine tradition when he wrote that birds started pairing off on February 14. (At that time, the calendar was different from the one we have now; their 14th was our 24th, which is closer to spring in the Northern Hemisphere.) So the day was celebrated as a time when couples got together.

It seems that Valentine’s Day will keep its beginnings a secret. But love’s best secret?

“Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish.”

– Anne Morrow Lindbergh –

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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

Nature of the week :