Beginning

February 4, 2023

Good morning.

First day of my Sabbath Project

I’m a beginner. A believer? Not yet. A faithful? Oh, no. Far from it.

What is the sudden reversal?

The mystical women of the Middle Ages. I’ll start with St. Clare of Assisi and Mechthild of Magdeburg.

What’s Sabbath Project? Getting up at 8am. Meditation for half hour. 

Orange Moon

Years of drought

the hills are tinder-dry

wild fires start as if spontaneously

all so near us and moving

Evacuation warnings, be ready

I wake this morning

with one wish

from a constellation of wishes

spare us

of more fires

I will keep praying

Orange moon looks on us

I have faith

I’m afraid.

note: The photos are from my walk to the river this morning before the air quality became unhealthy. The photo of the moon was taken this evening.

Book I finished reading: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Books I’m reading: The Sea by John Banville for my Book Club. I’m re-reading the English Patient.

Ordinary Things

Ordinary Things

I will not need a hammer

to make a yogurt

I may need a loom

to weave a tapestry

To find lost civilizations

I have to dig hard and deep

The ordinariness of routines,

struggle and perseverance

The devoted hours of monks:

prayers, sleep, work

I will have to master my hands

may not need a trowel or shovel

to work my way through

to find a needle, diamond, or poem

hidden inside a haystack.

Choices

We lose sleep because we want

To know if our life has meaning

What’s the meaning we are looking for.

I pray for the Holy Spirit to help me

I went to see my primary physician today. Seeing a physician is a confirmation of our mortality. We are mortals. We are subject to decay. It’s a morbid reality.

When we pray we affirm our hope for immortality.

We should realize both conditions offer us a chance for greatness. Greatness means steps of extraordinary work. Greatness is immortality in the eyes of man and God. 

My doctor told me I have work to do.