January 20, 2013

Oh, I am loving this sunny day where there is only a wisp of cloud against the brilliant blue! Yesterday when Mikayla and I went out for errands the sky was so weird. There were long thin lines of cloud, some thick enough to be a little puffy but a lot of them thin like wrinkles, as if someone pushed up a sheet of blue and white silk so that the white part was raised up and the blue part was flat against the table. It looked sort of like blue and white corduroy, and I don't think I have ever seen clouds quite like that before, the further distant they were the thinner the lines, gave you a kind of vertigo to just look up at them. You really couldn't tell much from our house because the trees close in but out where there is more a vista of sky, it was a remarkable sight! One I am glad I was out to see!

Today there is a faint breeze, just enough to rock the wind chimes and have the hard drive one catch the light but not enough for any of them to make a sound. The yard is so sunny, it seems the grass, or what passes for grass under all the trees gets greener in the winter because there is a lot more sunlight with no leaves. Just about the time it's looking pretty good, the leaves return and it dies back again! And it won't be long before there are leaves again. My maple trees is already putting out leaf buds and it just lost the last of its leaves last week. That was a really short rest for it, but I have to suppose that it knows what it is doing, it's been doing it for years now, but this is so early for new leaves. I believe this year the trees are just a little confused about the seasons. It's warmer today than it has been and though the house still feels chilly to me, I suspect that is just my reaction, though my husband is still wearing a long sleeved shirt <smile>.

There have been more birds out this morning, from the time I got up, mockingbirds and mourning doves, and in the distance crows calling. The vultures are not in residence in that old tree across the ditch, perhaps they are out for a ride on the thermals, today we might actually have some warmer ones!

I think there must be a blessing for sunlight somewhere, because Shawn called and even he was glad it was sunny after days of cloud for them, unusual for El Paso. I think he must live in the right place just like I do, he, too, gets gloomy when the weather does.

Today is the day for the blessing . . . and we all could use a little . . . balance!

For Equilibrium

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind love to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of God.

John O'Donohue

I like this prayer because it calls us to be lighter than we are, light like the day, like water, like time, like listening. If we give up our . . . gravity, taking everything so seriously, so importantly, I think joy has an easier time entering us. I love the idea of wind calling things to dance! And the dignity of moonlight, and taking various shapes like water. I am sure I have the hang of that one, as I think sometimes I am too easy to take the shape of whatever appeals to me at the moment, but like the idea that I am still becoming, so it's all right to like new things, to have enthusiasms, to get caught up in the excitement of learning something new and practicing it! I know God laughs when I discover one more thing to be amazed about, but it's the kind of fond laughter a parent has for a child that still has so much to discover! And I am discovering, boy, am I discovering!

And just to make me smile, the line about irony makes me think of the nice young lady who orders my cards at Texas Art Supply. She often has on a black tee-shirt that says, "IRONY the opposite of wrinkly" and it makes me chuckle every time I see it. What a creative way to use language! A fine example of thinking out of the . . . circle that tries to encompass all the "useful" definitions of words! I think that is a very useful use of irony, it's joyful!

So have a joyful week, listen for the laughter of God, you know it's got to be out there and in us as well. There can be a lot in this life that just reminds us not to take it and ourselves so seriously! Look around, human beings are . . . funny, it's one of our redeeming qualities, as well as being able to see that humor not only in others but in ourselves as well!