LOOKING FOR LIGHT AND LOVE

So something horrible happened yesterday and we can't ignore it. And something wonderful happened yesterday but we might have missed it. It is ever so subtle and yet powerful how each time tragedy strikes, our hearts grow a tiny bit closer to each other. We let down our shields for a moment and feel compassion. We open the door just a little bit more to the idea that we are connected, that we are truly one world neighborhood. In that brief moment before we've moved on to the next thing, love has a chance to grow. It doesn't feel wonderful but it is. Why? Because we need compassion in order to get to action, in order to get to peace. Because if a flame of love is ignited in each of us, we might just have enough light to find our way. I know it doesn't make sense. And please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to gloss over the tragedy. It is indeed a devastating thing, one that will echo in our conversations for years to come, as others have. It is just that I hope the echo is love. Perhaps it's not possible to explain. All I know is that my heart has been broken through tragedy and loss, sometimes to the point of complete surrender. And each time, in that moment after I surrendered to the brokenness, when I put my hands up in despair, that's when the love came pouring in, from friends, from strangers, from the Spirit. That's when the love has grown the most. Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" consoles us with this phrase: "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." That's where I feel a nudge to go today, to look for the light coming through the crack. So here we are again. Can you feel it? Where will love lead us now? What if we let our lights shine together?

Total Solar Eclipse 2017--by the shadow of the moon

By the shadow of the moon, we contemplate the sun....

It was amazing, spectacular, miraculous and worth every mile of driving to get there. Pete, our son, Luke, and I drove to Grand Island, Nebraska to view the Total Solar Eclipse on August 21st. I was able to take many pictures with my little camera and here are the results.

The experience was magical at times. As the moon reached the halfway mark, we began to notice that we didn't feel the full heat of the sun anymore. It was weird to be in the sun but not hot. Later, as the darkness gradually came, our eyes felt like they were fooling us. It was day light but yet not bright and no storm in sight.

We had the perfect weather, mostly sunny with wispy angel clouds floating by. This provided the perfect stage for a rainbow circle around the sun (aka Sun Dog), which lasted for about twenty minutes. When the eclipse was about 75%, a flock of about twenty white pelicans flew over the park where we watched, heralding the coming darkness. And right as the moment of Total Eclipse arrived, three dragonflies appeared over our heads and sat in the tree above us.

The darkness was like right after sunset, with the feeling that God was playing with the dimmer switch. overall, it was a peaceful and gorgeous spectacle. I am so grateful to have been able to go and see it. Here is a little movie of the progression. [note: there is NO SOUND in this video]

May you find the light in your darkness!

just jules

A NEW YEAR'S INVITATION

(photo: dawn on my street on winter solstice)

A NEW YEAR'S INVITATION

A new year has come

and your are invited to the feast of

another 365 days of living

a buffet of flavors and seasons

Love, humor, color, and more

Come taste the life offered to you

Open your ears to the music

your eyes to the beauty

your heart to the possibilities

A new year has come and you are invited

to live life to its fullest

to be who you are

may 2017 be your best year yet!

~Jules

Movement

it's on my mind, it's on my heart
but that doesn't necessarily mean it happens

still, the dream ignites,

passion provides fuel

and eventually something begins to form

change is always happening

but some change is slow motion

like watching an oak tree grow

some change is explosion

like a volcano creates a mountain in a day

some burns like a forest fire

while another is pressure until it gives

creating tremors for miles around

still other change is a gentle breeze

that softly blows the dandelion seeds off

and carries them along

until they find soil

even if it might not happen

it probably will

in one way or another

because change is the constant we know to be truth

if i just let it flow in the way that it needs to

dreams, love, passion,

movement

life

~jules, 9/12/13

About Noise and Silence and Finding the Holy in it...Entry #3

July 24, 2013

6 a.m.

I often wake at this early hour, long before the alarm. I love mornings; especially early mornings when the day is yet fresh and undisturbed. I am lucky and honored to sleep in a room on the second floor with windows looking out on the trees. In some windows, if I could reach through, I could touch a tree; it is that close. Lately, when i wake up at this early hour, I've been noticing how still the trees are in the quiet and silent dawn. Sometimes I even hold my breath challenging them to move before I do. This silence shared with the trees delights me to the core of my being. Perhaps this is what has drawn me to wake at this early hour all these years; the shared silence.

In the early dawn I can for a moment melt into unity with all creation as we sit still together listening and just being. It is a spine tingling joy but I dare not shout it out until the first leaf moves. It is awe-inspiring sacredness. I can't help but entertain thoughts of love and grace and God. I feel so connected, so awake, so aware.

Stillness
silence
quiet
creates a sacredness,
a space for breath,
a moment for awareness
a place for smiling
gratitude
life

Good morning world!

happy to be here,

jules