Aligning with Grace

I wrote this back in 2010. But it seems so much more relevant today! Christmas Blessings! This Christmas... Love. Love totally and completely. Love without restraint. Love with total abandon. Forgive. Forgive everything. Forgive every ancient grudge. Forgive the Unforgivable. Hope. Hope for a better world. Hope for Peace, and an end to strife. Give Hope to all in despair. Dream. Dream the Impossible Dream. Feed your Dream and Give it Life. Make it real. Believe. Believe in the Seen. Believe in the Unseen. Believe in the Power of Miracles. Live. Live full and Live deeply. Live with Great Passion. Live Each moment, as if your last. Touch. Embrace a loved one. And a lost one. Embrace them again. Hold a hurting hand and heart. Feel. Feel everything. Feel it fully. Feel the Newness of every moment. Feel the gift of every day. Help. Help all those in need. Help those you know. Help those you don't. Give. Give generously. Give of your time. Give of your heart. ...

When you surrender, as the sacred season of Advent invites you to do, you step into a river of grace, holding you captive in its flow. Miracles will open up like rose petals, only to reveal more blessings deeply hidden in its sacred inner sanctum... Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus! Holy, Holy, Holy! Holiness is everywhere! I drink a hot cup of tea and reflect on how I have spent years trying to deepen and cultivate greater compassion in all things, but now it seems, the cultivation of humility is the next step logical step to usher in deeper soul cleansing, healing, and transmutation... My heart is filled with many new and sweet memories... I am honored to have participated last evening in a service of "Lessons and Carols" at St David's Episcopal Church, in Ashburn, Virginia, near my home. I was profoundly moved by the readings, the exquisite music, and the discernible joy which exuded from all the participants, including the rector, who upon hearing of my experiences ...

Today, after a couple of days of rain, and several weeks of absence, I returned to my "happy place," the river, that invited me nearly a decade ago, to begin this journey of writing, of growing, and transforming. Today, a new month begins. Today, is the first day of that month. Today, my thoughts are elsewhere - with a dear friend who manifested a new home by the sea, and today - it is hers... Today, I think of the importance of manifesting dreams, of taking care of ourselves, and of having at least one happy place to go to. Today, I reflect on all that the season of Advent invites us to do and to become, drawing us more deeply into a time of preparation and waiting. Indeed, there is so much to prepare for on so many levels of our lives. Today, we begin the last month of this year. It has been a difficult year for me personally, punctuated by the most contentious Presidential election in memory, and dare I say - even in our history as a nation. Some rejoice at the...

I wake up to a beautiful blanket of falling snow - big, fat, gum drops of flakes that take my breath away... I look out with awe, from my perch on the couch, with warm coffee and a newspaper in hand, stealing glances every so often, hoping it will not go away just yet... I don warm clothes and go for a long walk in the falling snow, on this day before the start of Lent, reflecting on what I shall focus on, and what attributes I wish to more deeply cultivate. I reflect on deep conversations and walks with a soul companion which transpired last weekend, out in the Virginia country home where she resides - where the stillness and the dark of night are so incredibly pronounced, and the quiet is only interrupted by the conversations of neighboring horses, cows, and goats. We cover so much ground and territory - holding nothing back - washing it down with copious libation, into the early hours of the morning... I sleep under a skylight feeling that angels and sacred beings ...

I begin a journal of writing down 1000 things I am grateful for - 1000 reasons to give thanks and to touch the sky and kiss the earth... I am moved to do so, after reading Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are... We miss so many of the opportunities we could be grateful for - for they are truly the simple things that fill our quotidian life and endeavors - a smile, a touch, a good cup of coffee, the sunrise, a walk through the woods, or your neighborhood, precious time spent with a loved one... There is such beauty in simplicity and often, it is so easy to miss... And it takes a snow storm - no - a blizzard - to slow me down - to show me the way of simplicity, of gratitude, of the exquisite beauty of a storm raging without any checks and balances, with nothing to corner it in... When it ends, everything is blanketed in stillness... There are no paths or streets - and no demarcations between one dwelling and the next... A...

This New Year is calling me to greater Silence... I awaken several times this week, as the first rays of dawn trickle into my bedroom - slyly coaxing me to rouse - beckoning me to meditation and quiet contemplation, and to the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, in solidarity with monastic communities everywhere... I move about this day - in total Silence... Everything I seem to stumble upon in my reading brings me back to the importance and necessity of Silence in this point and time... From those first rays of dawn to the first inkling of twilight - my day progresses - with its many domestic duties gently unfolding and spilling into each other, in total and simple Silence... I speak not a word, to anyone - save for my prayers, internally voiced, which I lay at the feet of the Divine... It is truly delicious for me in every way! Yes, I feel a call to greater Silence, to Quiet, to drawing more deeply Inward, and to spending less time online with its many distracti...

I wrap myself up in blankets and don toasty slippers on these cold winter days... I drink tea, and move slowly, and I think of what I would like to birth this year... There are so many things I would like to do and experience, but now is not the time for that. Now is the time for entraining with the rhythms of nature - it is a time for slowing down, for practicing self-care, and for nurturing the soul... Somehow, I sense this year will be different. I choose to dedicate it in a different way than I have in the past... There is much to do - much to clear - different directions to take - and all will unfold in its own time and in divine order... I embrace the long dark evenings and let go of what does not serve, in so many ways... I warm my hands around one cup of tea after another, and reflect on the attributes and values I want to cultivate this year. Like Pope Francis, I want to focus on the embodiment and greater reflection of mercy. But in order to do that, I must exer...

I do not end - and do not begin the bookend years the way I have done in the past - not in how I spend my time, not in the rituals I have regularly engaged in - not even in the food I normally make or eat! All about the year ending and the one beginning is different... I am aware of profound changes taking place - in my life - in the lives of many dear ones - and in the energy fields that surround us - and so much more... The latter half of this year witnessed a cleansing for me - of home - of body and spirit - deep changes I did not plan and could not have foreseen... All of it has resulted in a "lightening" of the load in my life and home - and as I begin this year - I realize it must go even further! I've detached from so much - and find it so much easier to do so... Profound insights come to me that significantly alter my perspective - my understanding, and my deep "inner knowing..." All shall be well... I dedicated this year to Mary and th...