Lately my life has taken a slower pace. Its the time of the year when in America we turn to Thanksgiving. Yes this involves turkey and friends and travel and the tensions and joys of family. I spent the last two weekends celebrating with my husbands family so the coming break will be quiet and I hope a time to rest. For this I am thankful.
My life has taken a slower pace because work is slow and I am having to use my time creatively without remuneration except of the most personal nature. My own family are caught in the morass of the dismal Irish economy crisis. Every day the news is full of doom and gloom with no hope of a light at the end of the tunnel for years to come. Where can we turn at times like these when optimism is all but quenched?
Help wanted? Apply within! We must look to ourselves for the truth of our experience.
It is our own thinking that has the power to darken our world according to John ODonohue.
"Search and you will find the diamond-thought of light. Know that you are not alone and that the darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes to find the one gift your life requires hidden within this night corner."
He seems to be saying there are gifts in times like these that without them we would never discover. Depths and strengths unexplored. Overlooked blessings that if we can pull our eyes away from the external, await our appreciation. Look for them in life's simple quiet moments. This poem by Irish poet Seamus Heaney illustrates, in quiet moments with his mother, the sacred found in the mundane. Turn your eyes from the world this Thanksgiving and find your abundant blessings of love, strength and insight within. Then shine it for all to see, it is the greatest gift you can give to your loved ones and to yourself.
Have a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving!
In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911-1984
When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
From each other's work would bring us to our senses.
So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives--
Never closer the whole rest of our lives.
In and through all things Love is the message that Spirit would have us know; that we are loved, that we are love and that love is always the answer. Let the words you read here be a message for you today from the Universe that created you, perfect as you are.
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