The Secret of Beauty

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“There’s nothing fair nor beautiful, but takes

Something from thee, that makes it beautiful.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow –

. . . which, of course, means that beauty is within you.

Look for the beauty all around you this week. It’s a sign of the beauty in your own spirit.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

The Secret of the Beautiful Ones

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Time and people change

but the essence of wisdom and justice is the same.

The beautiful ones mirror God’s Beauty . . .”

– Rumi –

Last night, I woke up sometime after midnight and was treated to a beautiful sight: the full moon with the planet Mars nearby. I thought of how the moon wasn’t really shining but was mirroring the light of the sun. It was also mirroring God’s Beauty as all of nature does. We mirror God’s Beauty, too, shining brightest when we reflect Love. And Joy. And Peace . . .

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.

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

The Stirring of the Wind

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“A leaf quivers on a branch and my heart trembles

the wind stirs the leaves and beauty stirs my heart.”

– Rumi –

Pay deep attention to the stirring of the wind,

the stirring of the spirit,

the stirring of beauty in the heart.

Hold this treasure close.

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.

Some of Us Get It Backward

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.

The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over

and let the beautiful stuff out.”

– Ray Bradbury –

Some of us get it backward – we tip ourselves over before being filled. Be filled first. Constantly and quietly let the beautiful grow within. Then when you tip over, something beautiful will pour out.

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

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

How to See God’s Handwriting

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson –

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm. The world needs it.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

Far Away in the Sunshine

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

I may not reach them,

but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”

Louisa May Alcott

Follow your highest aspirations . . .

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

Nature photo of the week – a fringed tulip – from my Wednesday Walk at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens:

Shadow of the Week – I did not set this up but found it exactly like this on my deck after a windstorm. The shadows are few, but it’s appropriate for today. Happy Easter!

The World In Your Hand

Detritus: Close Encounters of the Small Kind

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

I have a friend who sees beauty in the bits of nature that most of us pass by or trample over and sweep away – chips of dry fallen leaves, torn and faded petals, tiny feathers, bits of broken rock, mini-twigs – detritus. I can hear my friend saying detritus with a gleam of passion in her eyes, a love for the detail most of us never even notice. Detritus. She sees beauty in it and draws its intricate patterns slowly, carefully, lovingly with the sharpest pencil lead and the finest-tipped pen. She’s an artist.

A piece of detritus appeared in my kitchen window this week, hanging there like a small suncatcher. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was a leafy lacework more or less the shape of a star a quarter-inch wide. It had ragged, irregular outer edges and framed an open center, a circle evenly trisected by miniscule spokes that made the tiny object look like a star-framed peace symbol. An almost invisible spider-silk holds it in place, and it sways ever so slightly in the breeze. I got the sharpest pencil I could find and drew it. Then I let it be.