single red tulip

Something to Think About:

Barbara Kingsolver’s book High Tide in Tucson,  shows us  how transformation is possible, even when our life is in ruins.

Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job or a limb or a loved one, a graduation, bringing a new baby home: it’s impossible to think at first how this all will be possible. Eventually, what moves it all forward is the subterranean ebb and flow of being alive among the living.

In my own worst seasons I’ve come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life again. Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again.

And a little music:  “Music… will help dissolve your perplexities…and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I hope you will enjoy this favourite version of a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole.  (5 minutes) The teenagers in the photo were a delightful encounter when I was in Japan. Everytime I look at their friendly cheerful faces and “peace signs” it makes me smile.

May you experience a few wondrous moments everyday.

This should work now.