life

The Color of Life

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The poem claimed that life was the color of

“almost pale white robin’s green…”*

I shook my head,

for I know that the color of life

is blue—

blue like the sky,

blue like the sea,

blue for peace that is meant to be,

blue for cool breath,

blue for color-shifting twilight.

its blue-green glow deepening

to velvet blue

as night falls.

I feel the color of life as blue—

the blue-violet of deep thought,

the sharp-edged gray blue of grief,

the airy, floating blue of hope.

Yes. The color of life is blue—

thirst quenching,

soul resting,

heart holding,

dream painting,

wild-and-tame,

up-and-down,

surge-and-rest,

swimming,

swirling,

settling,

soothing

blue.

I see you shaking your head.

What color is life

to you?

– kh –

* from “Eggshell” by Gerald Stern

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Great, Everyday Wonders

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“Be not blind, but open-eyed

to the great wonders of Nature,

familiar, everyday objects though they be to thee.”

– Orchot Tzaddikim –

– a 15th century Jewish ethical work –

 

“There is not a particle of life

which does not bear poetry within it.”

– Gustave Flaubert –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

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

Broken Dreams, Beautiful World

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“Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” – Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata”

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – shadows and reflections in a double paned window:

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

Illuminating Life

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“Hatred paralyzes life;

Love releases it.

Hatred confuses life.

Love harmonizes it.

Hatred darkens life;

Love illuminates it.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – shamrocks and Dala horse:

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 World Full, A Cup Full

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“…although the world is full of suffering,

it is full also of the overcoming of it.”

– Helen Keller –

 

Helen Keller’s words remind me of something Frederick Buechner said in his essay for Going on Faith: “All the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.” It also makes me think of some advice that Fred Rogers left us: When bad things happen, look for the helpers.

So keep your eyes open; be aware of the bad. But don’t drown in that cup.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Keep moving toward what brings life.

Look for the helpers.

And be one.

 

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 © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

What Adds Up to a Life?

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“Begin at once to live,

and count each separate day as a separate life.”

– Lucius Annaeus Seneca –

I often find bits of wisdom tucked away in novels. Recently I was reading the novel Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan and found this: “She had made a choice and then she had made another and another after that. Taken together, the small choices anyone made added up to a life.”

May you choose peace daily. Nurture  it, cultivate loving-kindness, carry the calm, and that will be your life.

Nature of the week – poplar leaf after a rainstorm:

Shadow of the Week – a tree shadow spills into the street:

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.

The Very Life of Life

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Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence;

The Bliss of Growth

The Glory of Action

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is only a Vision,

But Today well lived makes every

Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, and every

Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

– from the Sanskrit –

 

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

Nature of the week:

norwaybaysun

Shadow of the Week:

stairrailshdw

 

Photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.