peace

Swallowing Sunshine

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Today I picked three palm-sized stars

with pure white petals.

Mandevilla they’re called,

a fancy name for a friendly flower that grows

on vines that twine around fence and stake

and the gangly stems of neighboring black-eyed Susans.

In the center of each bloom

is a deep throat of golden yellow,

as if they’ve swallowed sunshine.

They hold this inner glow of morning

through afternoon

and sunset

and twilight

and into the night.

Today I picked three palm-sized stars,

and they asked me what glowing ideas

I have swallowed.

Which are worth holding center-deep?

Which lead to peace and kindness

in this vining, entwining life?

Which will hold a warm glow within me

through sunset and twilight

and into the night?

I think I know the answer.

Only the golden grace of peace and lovingkindness

can last the day and pass through the night.

Today I picked three palm-sized stars

and, for a moment, held in my hand a hint of

nature’s wisdom.

-kh-

 

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.

A Game of War I Don’t Want to Play

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He’s being cranky again, my young grandson,

corralling me into a game of war

I do not want to play,

the swingset the villain’s lair.

I don’t like war, I tell him.

I don’t like fighting.

I like peace.

He says, “First you fight the monsters,

and then you go to your place of peace.”

I look up,

up to the treetops,

take a deep breath.

I don’t tell him that I have some experience

in fighting monsters who were not quite

as imaginary as his.

Or were they?

I also don’t tell him

that I don’t always win.

The treetops sway,

the breeze whispers peace.

I look back at my grandson.

“Okay,” I say.

“I will fight your monsters.”

And my heart breaks a little.

Because I know that I will.

-kh-

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.

Joy Resting

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“Peace is joy at rest, and joy is peace on its feet.”

– Anne Lamott, quoting her pastor Veronica –

May your joy find rest and may your peace find its feet. Nurture it, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – Super Moon, Blue Moon:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Risking It All

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“Wage peace,” she writes,

this person I do not know,

reposted by someone else,

a mere acquaintance.

“Wage peace.”

I know what she means,

but my mind jumps to the minimum wage,

which does not provide much peace.

Besides, peace seems the minimum of wages due

when I sink into my pillow at the end

of a day of diligent and otherwise

unpaid work.

But that’s not what this person means

when she writes, “Wage peace.”

She means, of course, to counter

the waging of war, to say that

instead of engaging in war,

we must engage in peace.

But my mind jumps to

that other form of wage:

wager—a bet or a pledge.

Now the meaning splits wide open.

Pledge yourself to peace.

Bet on peace.

Risk it all

on the hope

of peace.

This, I think, is both wage and wager.

So I pass it on to friends,

to mere acquaintances,

to strangers

as we link thoughts,

hopes,

dreams,

bets.

I lean in close.

“Wage peace,” I write.

“Pass it on.”

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week – at a safari park:

Shadow of the Week:

 

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

We Bring Things

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We bring things for our people—

armfuls of leaves and petals and stems.

We bring things for our people—

paints of red and daffodil yellow,

sea blue and forest green,

poems of peace

and questions for musing.

With outstretched hands,

we bring ourselves—

our seeking souls

our open hearts.

We bring things for our people,

and it’s like bringing the sunshine.

– kh –

I wrote this about being a facilitator/teacher at Art & Soul Nashville, a community of intuitive artmaking where I take classes and sometimes teach. Who are your people? What do you bring them? What do they bring you? In what communities or friendships do you find peace? Count yourself blessed.

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.

Peace Like a River

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“When peace like a river attendeth my way,

when sorrows like sea billows roll,

whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

It is well; it is well with my soul.”*

 

This hymn was softly playing on my sister’s phone when my dad took his final breath last week. My sisters and I were holding his thin hands, listening beyond the music to his ragged breathing. We had told him a few minutes earlier not to worry, that we would be all right. I said, “We’ll be here, Daddy. We’ll walk with you as far as we can.” And we did. As he let go and stopped struggling to breathe, a deep peace carried all of us, and as the last phrase of the hymn drifted across us, he drifted away. “It is well; it is well with my soul.”

May peace, deep and buoyant as a gentle, restful river carry you through this day and all the days to come and assure you that truly, it is well.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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*Written by Horatio G. Spafford, public domain

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

At the Edge of My Coffee

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A tiny bubble

at the edge of my coffee

reflects my kitchen windows

in miniature,

a visual echo of daylight drifting in

on a cool, rainy day,

a calm take-your-time afternoon.

Peace comes in the wink of a bubble

at the edge

of my coffee

at the edge

of my thoughts

at the edge

of my hopes for the day.

– 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.

Hanging On

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Last crisp leaf shivers

dangling in the frosty breeze.

Don’t let go just yet.

– kh –

 

Don’t let go of hope. Don’t stop reaching for peace. Don’t give up on kindness. Don’t let go just yet.

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.

Garden Gossips

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Four black-eyed Susans,

crones of the planter box,

have lost their golden petals.

Their dark brown seed heads

sit atop tall stalks,

surveying shorter blooms—

pink coneflowers,

sun bright coreopsis,

fluttery white windflowers.

The black-eyes lean toward each other

nodding in the breeze,

garden gossips

sharing the season’s secrets.

Shhh! Shhh!

Peace.

– 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 © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

From Thorns to Flowers

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I have a daydream of the present moment, the now. In that dream, we stand with hands cupped before us, holding what we thought were the thorns of the past. But they’ve turned into fragrant flowers. As we cradle these flowers in our palms, something marvelous happens: the petals become wings, and with one joyful toss of our cupped hands, we send them flying away. And when we lower our hands, we realize that, in spite of everything we let go, our hands are not empty. They are full of mystery and grace and hope enough to fuel our next steps and fill our hearts with 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.

Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.