Thank you Carrie and thank you all for these wonderful comments. Love sitting down at the end of the day to such beautiful words. I’m reminded a few years ago when I was co teaching a holistic photography class, we took participants outside and asked them to stand in certain places. They had 3’ to work with for their images. Most started with the beautiful high desert mesas and landscape and then they sat down and began noticing what was there within their 3’. When we all looked at their images, words were “look I walk by that everyday and never noticed,” “where did that come from,” etc - smiles, joy, wonderment just in their 3’. And for me spring brings flowers, blossoms, leaves and on my patio in a pot with old potting soil, hadn’t had any water all winter, about 15 little (maybe 1 inch) green something coming up. When I looked it up, they are sunflowers blown in and found a home in this old pot of soil. They are standing tall, well at 1 inch, with such determination to reach for the sun. I smiled and thought how seeds of hope pass by every day, slow down, be open, listen and trust.
This weekend I discovered a nest of 4 amazingly blue robin's eggs in an evergreen bush that I should have pulled out of the garden years ago, but instead I let the bush grow there. And now robins are growing there! And now hope is growing in me!
Thank you Carrie for all you do. Your music got me through the pandemic and continues to uplift me. I too am constantly stunned by all the beauty that exists simultaneously with the hatred & greed of so many governments of the world. What a waste when we have so much positive energy and beauty to explore. "When will we ever learn?" when will we ever learn?
Yes. I I try and notice all of these miracles that exist simultaneously with the hardships and cruelty of the governments in this world. So much beauty. Such a waste all the greed, violence and hatred.
Tropical Storm Helene devastated our county and my house thankfully, was still standing after a landslide took out everything around us. However, next to one of the trees that was still standing and unscathed is a large rock. Everything else was gone, but on the rock, my bucket of red geraniums was still bravely standing, like a middle finger saying, "You can try, but you cannot take my spirit even though there is devastation all around me. Watch my resilience."
oh Teri, what a powerful image. I'm so sorry for the tragedy you and your community experienced with Helene. But I am so grateful you home was spared. I lived for a time next to a beautiful ravine of woods that I used to walk with my daughter nearly every day. One day I heard the sounds of saws and falling trees. Someone had purchased the land and decided to clear cut and burn the entire area. It was like someone had taken a baseball bat to the back of my knees. The landscape we love lives in our bones. The grief that happens when it is so devastated is deep and abiding. We know that it will take time beyond our years to heal the land and that we will not live to see it return. And yet...the earth does heal herself, especially if we choose to help and protect and participate in that healing. That brave pot of geraniums was a testament to the resilience of nature, the determination of beauty to express itself, even in the hardest of times. I'm holding you and your community in the Light. thank you for posting such a powerful image.
A good friend of mine was recently helping her daughter and soon to be son-in-law move into their new home. In the process of moving, a baby squirrel "adopted" my friends foot and happily stayed put as she walked around outside. She took a picture of this tiny creature giving her its love and I smile every time I see it or think about it. As they say "it's the little things"
It’s been a really busy and full day, and I’m just now finding the time to even open this post. Just knowing it was there waiting on me to read was a comfort. I enjoyed reading all the comments, and have no words to improve on them. So I’ll say thank you to this community, and wish Carrie and Gary a safe and successful concert tour.
I spent the past two days at a Regional gathering for the wider church, about a 2 hour drive from my home, on the shores of Lake Huron here in Ontario Canada. When you live in the city, surrounded by rushing around, horns honking, sirens screaming, you tend to forget about stopping and paying attention.
I so enjoyed my drive both there and back along the back roads, seeing farms, trees beginning to bud, and wildflowers growing along the side of road. When you go from rushing around and passing by people without a second thought, just keeping to yourself, to a gathering of open arms and hearts, laughter, singing, and worshiping together, you pay attention, not just in your mind and with your eyes but also with your heart.
The weather was rather cold and overcast but during a break we had, I took a walk down to the beach looking around me as I walked, seeing the first flowers popping up in the grass, a little brook that I crossed over with its water traveling along, birds singing and hearing all the lovely sounds of nature. As I came through the opening to the beach I was taken back at the beauty before me. It was rather windy close to the water but seeing and hearing the waves splashing on the shore, the seagulls fluttering about looking for food and the silence around me was so glorious!! Even though the weather was cold, I still took my shoes and socks off and dipped my toes in the water. Yes it was freezing but it was also very therapeutic at the same time. I stood for a minute before heading back for the meeting, looking up at the sky and just saying “thank you”. I love that I have this opportunity each year to attend this and being reminded to pay attention.
Thank you Carrie for your lovely poem, a gentle reminder to stop and pay attention, I see another book brewing!!!
Thank you for this beautiful description. . . I could feel and hear those beautiful waves, the water birds. I LOVED that even though the water was cold, you still took off your shoes and socks let your toes make contact with all that wonder. Ah yes!
A beautiful reminder of 'hope' amidst counter evidence. I'm reminded of that song that was written on the Disciples of Christ retreat that you led: "Harvesting Hope"
“Turn the soil, prepare the ground, plant the seeds, the roots go down.
Seasons change, the world goes ‘round, with care and tending fruits abound.”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
“All the souls who before us came, generations and countless names,
they planted trees, that give us shade, from their work new ground is laid.”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
“This is now, this is when, our troubled world calls us to mend,
what is broken, restored again, we do our part and say Amen!”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
We need more signs of hope planted to be harvested!
Ah, just I remember that song. It was such a fun process to create that with the group…”This is now, this is when, our troubled world calls us to mend”. Amen.
Frequently, I've been reminded of the great depth of life and the struggle to survive, like when I had plopped-down in a semi-random spot in the woods, hiding as a volunteer "victim" for the search-and-rescue dogs to find to develop their skills. As I waited, quiet and still, I was impressed again with the MANY layers of life, all just trying to make a living, some luckier than others to have landed in a better spot to grow or receive sunshine. or water, or protection. There is so much luck involved. Hopefully, we have landed in a spot where we can add a little beauty or help protect something beautiful that someone else can appreciate. Or maybe we can make life a little easier for "someone" else to survive as we all navigate in this complex journey of life.
Oh my, what an amazing experience…I’m so touched you volunteered to help teams and dogs to practice so that when they were needed to help in such a vital way, they would have the experience and practice. And what you noticed in the world around you…so powerful my friend. Thank you for sharing.
I so enjoy your music! The lyrics to Silver are fabulous it made me think if my husband that I love would have fallen asleep at the pope’s funeral I would’ve woken him up. Your words and voice are so uplifting and encouraging to me. I am grateful for your deep thoughts.
Deeply moved by this…those cracks that let the light shine through. 🪻
Wonder is truer
than most of what’s on the news.
And feels wonderful!
...
The both/ands, and yets...
photobomb the ugliest scene.
Make us pause, breathe, click.
Thank you Carrie and thank you all for these wonderful comments. Love sitting down at the end of the day to such beautiful words. I’m reminded a few years ago when I was co teaching a holistic photography class, we took participants outside and asked them to stand in certain places. They had 3’ to work with for their images. Most started with the beautiful high desert mesas and landscape and then they sat down and began noticing what was there within their 3’. When we all looked at their images, words were “look I walk by that everyday and never noticed,” “where did that come from,” etc - smiles, joy, wonderment just in their 3’. And for me spring brings flowers, blossoms, leaves and on my patio in a pot with old potting soil, hadn’t had any water all winter, about 15 little (maybe 1 inch) green something coming up. When I looked it up, they are sunflowers blown in and found a home in this old pot of soil. They are standing tall, well at 1 inch, with such determination to reach for the sun. I smiled and thought how seeds of hope pass by every day, slow down, be open, listen and trust.
Loved this moment of beauty
Thanks for sharing, Carrie! The observations you so beautifully describe can never be rewarded unless you are truly living in the now!
This weekend I discovered a nest of 4 amazingly blue robin's eggs in an evergreen bush that I should have pulled out of the garden years ago, but instead I let the bush grow there. And now robins are growing there! And now hope is growing in me!
Thank you Carrie for all you do. Your music got me through the pandemic and continues to uplift me. I too am constantly stunned by all the beauty that exists simultaneously with the hatred & greed of so many governments of the world. What a waste when we have so much positive energy and beauty to explore. "When will we ever learn?" when will we ever learn?
Yes. I I try and notice all of these miracles that exist simultaneously with the hardships and cruelty of the governments in this world. So much beauty. Such a waste all the greed, violence and hatred.
Tropical Storm Helene devastated our county and my house thankfully, was still standing after a landslide took out everything around us. However, next to one of the trees that was still standing and unscathed is a large rock. Everything else was gone, but on the rock, my bucket of red geraniums was still bravely standing, like a middle finger saying, "You can try, but you cannot take my spirit even though there is devastation all around me. Watch my resilience."
oh Teri, what a powerful image. I'm so sorry for the tragedy you and your community experienced with Helene. But I am so grateful you home was spared. I lived for a time next to a beautiful ravine of woods that I used to walk with my daughter nearly every day. One day I heard the sounds of saws and falling trees. Someone had purchased the land and decided to clear cut and burn the entire area. It was like someone had taken a baseball bat to the back of my knees. The landscape we love lives in our bones. The grief that happens when it is so devastated is deep and abiding. We know that it will take time beyond our years to heal the land and that we will not live to see it return. And yet...the earth does heal herself, especially if we choose to help and protect and participate in that healing. That brave pot of geraniums was a testament to the resilience of nature, the determination of beauty to express itself, even in the hardest of times. I'm holding you and your community in the Light. thank you for posting such a powerful image.
A good friend of mine was recently helping her daughter and soon to be son-in-law move into their new home. In the process of moving, a baby squirrel "adopted" my friends foot and happily stayed put as she walked around outside. She took a picture of this tiny creature giving her its love and I smile every time I see it or think about it. As they say "it's the little things"
yes...it is the small things that remind us daily of what is so good, so faithful, so beautiful. thank you Jim.
It’s been a really busy and full day, and I’m just now finding the time to even open this post. Just knowing it was there waiting on me to read was a comfort. I enjoyed reading all the comments, and have no words to improve on them. So I’ll say thank you to this community, and wish Carrie and Gary a safe and successful concert tour.
I spent the past two days at a Regional gathering for the wider church, about a 2 hour drive from my home, on the shores of Lake Huron here in Ontario Canada. When you live in the city, surrounded by rushing around, horns honking, sirens screaming, you tend to forget about stopping and paying attention.
I so enjoyed my drive both there and back along the back roads, seeing farms, trees beginning to bud, and wildflowers growing along the side of road. When you go from rushing around and passing by people without a second thought, just keeping to yourself, to a gathering of open arms and hearts, laughter, singing, and worshiping together, you pay attention, not just in your mind and with your eyes but also with your heart.
The weather was rather cold and overcast but during a break we had, I took a walk down to the beach looking around me as I walked, seeing the first flowers popping up in the grass, a little brook that I crossed over with its water traveling along, birds singing and hearing all the lovely sounds of nature. As I came through the opening to the beach I was taken back at the beauty before me. It was rather windy close to the water but seeing and hearing the waves splashing on the shore, the seagulls fluttering about looking for food and the silence around me was so glorious!! Even though the weather was cold, I still took my shoes and socks off and dipped my toes in the water. Yes it was freezing but it was also very therapeutic at the same time. I stood for a minute before heading back for the meeting, looking up at the sky and just saying “thank you”. I love that I have this opportunity each year to attend this and being reminded to pay attention.
Thank you Carrie for your lovely poem, a gentle reminder to stop and pay attention, I see another book brewing!!!
Thank you for this beautiful description. . . I could feel and hear those beautiful waves, the water birds. I LOVED that even though the water was cold, you still took off your shoes and socks let your toes make contact with all that wonder. Ah yes!
A beautiful reminder of 'hope' amidst counter evidence. I'm reminded of that song that was written on the Disciples of Christ retreat that you led: "Harvesting Hope"
“Turn the soil, prepare the ground, plant the seeds, the roots go down.
Seasons change, the world goes ‘round, with care and tending fruits abound.”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
“All the souls who before us came, generations and countless names,
they planted trees, that give us shade, from their work new ground is laid.”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
“This is now, this is when, our troubled world calls us to mend,
what is broken, restored again, we do our part and say Amen!”
“We are harvesting hope, we are reaching out.
We are gathering in,
we are harvesting hope.”
We need more signs of hope planted to be harvested!
Ah, just I remember that song. It was such a fun process to create that with the group…”This is now, this is when, our troubled world calls us to mend”. Amen.
Frequently, I've been reminded of the great depth of life and the struggle to survive, like when I had plopped-down in a semi-random spot in the woods, hiding as a volunteer "victim" for the search-and-rescue dogs to find to develop their skills. As I waited, quiet and still, I was impressed again with the MANY layers of life, all just trying to make a living, some luckier than others to have landed in a better spot to grow or receive sunshine. or water, or protection. There is so much luck involved. Hopefully, we have landed in a spot where we can add a little beauty or help protect something beautiful that someone else can appreciate. Or maybe we can make life a little easier for "someone" else to survive as we all navigate in this complex journey of life.
Oh my, what an amazing experience…I’m so touched you volunteered to help teams and dogs to practice so that when they were needed to help in such a vital way, they would have the experience and practice. And what you noticed in the world around you…so powerful my friend. Thank you for sharing.
I so enjoy your music! The lyrics to Silver are fabulous it made me think if my husband that I love would have fallen asleep at the pope’s funeral I would’ve woken him up. Your words and voice are so uplifting and encouraging to me. I am grateful for your deep thoughts.
I love most that the flower decided.