Early Advent

It is not even close to December
but the roses shiver with anticipation
like footsie wearing children
on Christmas Eve
The green leaves turn red at the tips
heralding new life
bearing the gift of tiny buds about to bloom
I can hardly wait

Bath time

Not many things can make me laugh as much as giving my dogs a bath -- not only do they look hilarious, but after sulking in wet misery for a moment, they start to run around shaking and sliding and trying to dry themselves off on every available surface in a frenzy of doggie enthusiasm that can not be matched. I love it. They love it. The bathroom is always destroyed, but my spirits are buoyed and my pups smell like coconuts. I am so thankful to have been well enough today to enjoy the circus of it all:)

SuperMoms

I'm thankful for moms, for their bravery and tender hearts, for their optimism and super human strength, and for being the reason that all of us are here. I am in awe. Whenever I think about it, it seems like the most impossible job in the world, and yet, they prove the impossible possible every day. This is a poem I wrote about it today...

THE MIRACLE OF MOTHERHOOD
How am I to learn to be a mother
when I am already so tired
and the dogs seem too needy
How am I to have strength for another
when I barely have strength for myself
when the instinct to run,
to breathe, to be free
are so deeply ingrained in me
"Each day has enough trouble
of its own" Jesus says
as he entreats me not to worry
yet in saying it, he has made me worry
Maybe that's the point
I can't do any of it on my own
I need help to wake up
to be strong
to be still and not to worry
Maybe that's why so many people
speak about the "miracle" of birth
It seems like such a misnomer
to call the most natural thing
on the planet
Supernatural
And yet, maybe it is
Maybe it must be
in order to turn a mere mortal
into a Mother

Icon

Today I'm thankful for Audrey Hepburn -- for her beauty and charm and style and grace and humanity, and for the way I can watch any of her movies and instantly feel my spirits lift. And she happens to have one of my favorite quotes, "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." Simple and lovely, just like her.

The glow of grace

The royal trumpet vine
blooms bright purple today,
heralding the start
of something new

The wide open buds
are at odds with the calendar
that insists it's almost fall

Maybe this fall
will be less like the season
and more like the fall
that precedes new love

Love that brings life,
new life in the face
of the withering forces of nature

As they climb, the green leaves
know that there is still a sun
It may be further away
but its rays are the same

Light is still light
even if the cold in the air
has tricked our bodies
and most of the other plants

But these violet tubes
lined with soft yellow
and filled with wonder
are not swayed by
the changing temperature

Steadfast, they soak up
the warm glow of grace

Super siblings

I get great joy reading my talented brother and sister's writing. Erin's blog this week had really stuck with me, a surprising and delightful slice-of-life story about my grandmother -- it can be read here: http://www.haveyourcakeandreadittoo.blogspot.com/

And I read this haiku my brother wrote every morning this week -- it moves me deeply:

Peace, you will find her
staring down the screaming storm
and daring to breathe

Magic salad and a special blanket

Lindsay made me the most delicious red quinoa salad that even though I had it for dinner last night and lunch today, I still want more. I am thankful that she made it and that it is helping to strengthen my body. I'm very grateful that today was a good day and for all of the prayers being wrapped around me like a warm, comforting, protecting blanket...I'll carry it with me always, just like Linus:)

Cats

I was sitting at my desk today and saw something on the deck out of the corner of my eye -- a black cat. He seemed to be walking towards me in a menacing way, like he had a mission, like he wanted to cross my path -- but I wasn't about to let him do that, so I jumped up and flailed my arms a bit and scared him the other way. And it made me laugh because just a few months ago, a white cat came sulking across my deck while I was in the office and startled me so much that I jumped up and shooed him away too. Now, I have two black and white cats of my own at home, and all I could think about was how they were playing a trick on me, trading clothes so one was all white and one was all black all so they could get me to flail and dance around like a lunatic to shoo them away. The thought of it actually made me giggle to myself. Oh those magical mystical mischievous cats! I would write a poem about them if T.S. Eliot hadn't already done it so well:)

Take Heart!

I am thankful today for the powerful words I read this afternoon that Jesus spoke in John 16:33 -- "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
I like that it's sort of like a prescription -- take heart -- kind of like take 2 of these and call me in the morning. So how do we "take" heart? Take is a very action oriented word...it means to hold, grasp, to grip -- to get possession of. It is a word relating to tangible things -- and yet "heart" seems so ethereal. How do we grasp heart? Through love, I think. The tangible power of love. Love so strong, so true that it has actually taken on physical property and can be held onto, grasped, gripped -- taken. And so I take heart because I am loved, not only by those around me, but by the One who created them and me and all of us...the One who is LOVE. It isn't fluffy, sentimental, judgemental Sunday school stuff -- it is a gritty and glorious promise to us fragile human beings trying to make it through this gritty and glorious world, and I am grateful, in the words of the old song that "We shall overcome..."

Nose trip

I am thankful for my sensitive sense of smell and for all the times it works the way it's supposed to. I experienced an olfactory aura migraine today which messes with your sense of smell and makes you smell things that aren't real -- for me it was smoke and diesel fuel -- my actually nose hallucinated! Hopefully there won't be a next time, but if there is, I hope i hallucinate jasmine and fresh orange blossoms:)