Stillness

Is it any wonder that in the middle of the winter we dress our homes with color and light. The Winter can be so bleak, yet, only in the stillness we can hear that small voice in our hearts leading us on the path. How natural our lives are in their cycles. When we allow ourselves to accept the cycles and listen to the still soft voice, when we take our life as a journey and an adventure, we then begin to learn the lessons we are meant to learn. Sometimes the lessons are big and require a time of dormancy when we can focus our lives to listen to the lesson. What a better time to listen than in the winter when the snow falls and that special quiet fills the earth around us? That stillness of the snow fall, is the stillness often times required to hear the voice in our hearts. May we all when we find ourselves in a deep winter of our life path, stop and listen with an open heart and mind to the voice of truth that may be trying to get our attention.

In the Scripture it says, "Be still and know that I am the God"

Winter in all her furry and bleakness still give us such beauty for comfort and joy. I remember the first time I realized that even in the darkness of winter we have such wonderful colors. For me, it is like this in grief and hardship I see the beauty and the beauty takes me through. I count them as gifts. The journey I have been on this last year has taken me to places of despair and pain I have not known before, but along with these pains and trails, I have had beauty and joy. I say joy for specific reasons. I believe joy dispels fear and despair. I believe it revives the soul. I have understood more and felt emotions more, or at least to a greater degree or depth, but I have seen greater beauty in my brother and sister as well as the events of my journey. In the frozen winter of my journey or even of the season we have found ourselves, I recall the beauty that surrounds me every day. While too much ice can cause tree loss or power outages, still in the natural beauty we are reminded that there can be joy in the depths of our pain.

Freedom

Freedom. I feel free today. I feel freer today because I saw something in my life that was not right and was able to let go of it in love. Freedom for me is a process, and might be for most of us who don't know what binds us. When I see something in my life that is hurting me and those around me, I thank God that I am able to let go of it. Sometime, often times, I need the help of someone near to me that I trust to help me see it and then let it go. Freedom means forgiveness, love and responsibility for actions taken in the past. I love freedom and desire that all can live in freedom.

Loss

The loss of a loved one leaves a hole in the heart their particular shape and size. Even though their memory lives on, the loss of their living energy shocks us. Death is not a wonderful thing at all. It may be part of the process, but it is not a wonderful thing. Memory Eternal.

Natural Life

I think one day science will prove that we are more connected to each other than we have any idea we are. I think we live in the world connected to each other in what we do and do not do. It's like the butterfly effect, only I think our connectedness speaks to the fact that we are of the same stuff. Our disconnectedness or feeling of disconnectedness speaks to the fact that we are not living natural lives as we were created to live. I am not speaking of "progress". I am speaking of love. When we mislove or delove or unlove, we are not natural and we create pain and suffering all around us. The other side is true. When we love, and love freely, we heal and are healed and we live natural lives. Love connects us in a circle of love. Love the one next to you and save the world.

Maybe the Nuts and Bolts of Love

I've been photographing my father's garden this summer. He's been gone a year, but his energies can still be felt in the work he did here. I never intended to do this project, but here I am doing what is in front of me to do.

I've been working on other things. One of the last conversations I had with Dad. He told me that one of his friends who was dying told him love was all there really was.

I've been thinking a lot about the nature of the human being. I know that as a human we tend towards things that leads us to death. I am well aware of my own tendencies. I fear that once we as a culture lose the idea that we are all created in the image and likeness, or are children of God, we might tend towards enslaving others at a break-neck speed. Once we forget that the one next to us is like a mini visitation of the divine in our lives, we tend to treat him as our slave, and we as the king. This is just not logical. We are of the same stuff, you and I. We are all brothers and sister to each other, no matter what our genetic backgrounds. The truth is there is but one race, the human race. The fact of the matter is that we should treat our neighbor as the king, divine person, and we as the slave or servant. I think this might just keep us honest, and away from those things which leads to death. This might just be the nuts and bolts of what it means to love.

Nature and Things

I've been thinking about this image all day. It's a sensual image. I just think it's beautiful. I have always thought how interesting it is when we can see our human selves in other forms of nature or the other way around. Curious how we are all connected to the same creation, and how we reflect it in different ways. We, in our natural state, are so much a part of the cycle of this creation. I think often we kick against it and desire to be what we are not, or who we are not and in this way damage those around us.