GRATITUDE MONTH #26: THREE LITTLE-BIG THINGS

Gratitude Month #26: Three Little-Big Things

The TECHNOLOGY that allows me to share my thoughts with you and read yours—phones, computers, social media, blogs etc. I know it is not perfect, that it can cause headaches or nervous breakdowns, that we can abuse this as well as anything we’ve ever had. AND it is also a gift, a wonderful gift, to be able to connect with others, even on days when I can’t afford to get out for lunch or spend hours on the phone. I am grateful.

I’m grateful for DREAMS for creativity, for having ideas come that offer new and different ways of looking at things. I love that after however many millennia we've been on this earth, humans are still thinking of new ways, still creating as the creator gives us vision to do so. For instance, I’m so glad that when there is healing to be done, immediately many people start imagining and praying for what will bring that healing. And then one day, we put our heads together and allow the miracle of it to happen.

I’m grateful for the incredible ABILITY OF THE HUMAN BODY TO HEAL. Our generous Creator had given us so much to work with. And I pray that I will get better at taking care of this body of mine and allowing it the proper avenues for healing to happen. It blows my mind that people battle cancer, get new hips and knees replaced, come back from stroke and devastating illness! I am so grateful for this gift of healing and pray that all of us find our way to be part of it.

And then there is the mystery of how sometimes, technology encourages the dream to grow and become real and as the dream is realized, the body heals. 

with gratitude,

jules

Let Us See What Love Can Do

A crowded sky
So many clouds
So many storms

One has a fiery furnace
Another gale force wind and drenching rain
And yet another thunder and lightening

A crowded town square
So many signs and slogans
So many voices screaming

One has hate
One has resistance
and yet another is ready with war

There's a traffic jam in my heart
There's congestion on the world wide web
Judgments flying faster than the speed of Light
Sirens warn of impending doom
A person could really get lost in it

Questions arise
How? Why? what now?
Where do we go from here?
What does it all mean?

As I breathe into my prayer here
I close my eyes so I can see with my heart
And that's when I hear the whisper of wisdom
And hear the song once again...

"Let us see what LOVE can do."

Jules, 9/6/2017

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

A TWO-CUP MORNING

I really love people, I mean LOoooooVE them! Everyone is so amazing...so magical and mysterious and mostly kind. I spend a lot of my time staying connected, scheduling the calendar, talking on the phone, writing long emails. Nevertheless, today is one of those days when I am content to socialize with the inner crowd; that circle of women who together make up me.

It's a two-cup morning, one for me and one for myself. I'm drinking out of my favorite cup; the one with colorful African women on it. Often I clean my kitchen and straighten up the living room because someone is coming over and I really am not ready for them to know how sloppy I really am. But today I cleaned so I could invite myself over for tea and drink in the loveliness of my home while I take a moment to sit and be grateful for this moment. I'm wearing a dress, not because I have to, but because I feel content in it. I've got my favorite shoes on (flip-flops). I combed my hair and put on my favorite earrings. The sun is obliging by providing the special effects necessary for me to watch the shadow of leaves dancing with the design on my rug. I meditate, spend some time thinking about my friends, in praise of life. I giggle quietly at the oddity of my life with no apologies. I am not in the mood for brooding today. Today, my head and heart are chatting quietly and slowly about love, about flowers and sunrises and the joy in living through yet another day. Today, I am sipping my tea and savoring this wonderful taste of life.

It's such a lovely private moment that I wondered if I should share it. But then I thought perhaps it was worthy to invite you to have your own two-cup morning. Could you take a little extra time for yourself? to wonder? to wander? to sip slowly and savor the flavors of life? Could you invite yourself over for tea? You can you know. It only takes a short time, a few deep breaths and voila! Suddenly you are in the presence of the best company you ever invited over.

FIRE

this passion
burning deep within
consumes the trash heaped upon it
returning to dust and ashes
underbrush, dead branches,


life's longing for tomorrow
fueled by yesterday's adventure
this fire of love and forgiveness
burning everything
that stands in the way
creating space for the new
transforming life into life

(photos taken by jules while burning the brush pile at my mother in law's house)

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

Dreaming--Part 1

my first definition of DREAM is: our heart's longing for itself expressed through color, sound, emotion and art, expressed through the gift of imagination mixed with hope and love.

What do I dream about in this way?

My heart longs for what my body does not currently know: health and fitness. Deep within the thoughts and feelings at my core I long for, dream about, being strong again in body; in shape enough to climb a mountain or run on the beach. In this place of dreaming I have returned to the body that knows joy from being more than from food or survival. In that body I am playful and have energy to give my  family, friends, and even strrangers who cross my path.

Whoa! Deeper still, deeper than than healthy body is a spirit that has found peace and joy in just being here. The effort to find balance is less of a struggle and more of a dance or a sweet song. In this place, I know who I am and that is enough. I can share but it doesn't need to be shared. I can receive but I don't need to get anything.

All that I sense is Love.

The words to Lia Falls song are appropriate here:

"Deep in my heart, deep in my heart, deep in my heart, deep in my heart."