Dawn, Wind, and Becoming

If you were a bird, and lived on high,

You’d lean on the wind when the wind came by,

You’d say to the wind when it took you away:

‘That’s where I wanted to go to-day!’

A.A. Milne (from The Complete Poems of Christopher Robin)

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Hello Friend,

What a lovely day for you to stop by. Not too hot, not too cold, the perfect day for a chat on the verandah. Why don’t you have a seat on one of the old-fashioned rocking chairs and I’ll go get us some tea and cookies.

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I made chocolate chip cookies. Will you have one or two with your tea? There’s cream, sugar, honey, and maple syrup there on the tray for indulgent additions – whatever you prefer.

When I got up this morning, the sun had risen just above the horizon. It cast a golden glow on the trembling aspens, and through the trees long slices of it shimmered on the lawn like soothing light radiating through cathedral windows.

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The wind has diminished into an oh-so-slight breeze. We’ve had wind for several days, and one evening it was so alarmingly strong that it took down trees in the neighbourhood. The Cowboy had to go hunting for a couple of lawn chairs, but my wind-whipped flowers survived, proving themselves stronger than I would have thought.

I love getting up in the early morning on days like this. I often sit out here on the verandah with my coffee and Morning Journal. Stillness, quiet, meditation. Gratefulness for grace given, in all its forms.

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Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in its full and excellent brightness.

Thomas Adams

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In the garden, all the vegetables and flowers are planted. Radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, potatoes are well on their way. Tomatoes look strong and hardy. Tulips have finished their last blazes of colour and I’ve left the leaves to die back, which is good for the bulbs I’m told. To my great joy and satisfaction, the perennials I planted last year – daisies and delphinium – are growing for all they’re worth. And (magical wonder!), the cosmos has reseeded itself and is springing up in little feathery bursts. As each tiny seedling pops up it seems to peep, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!”

I’m a seasoned vegetable gardener, but a becoming flower gardener, so these things thrill me to my core.

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Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.

Walt Whitman

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In the last seven days The Cowboy and I have attended a baptism, a wedding, and a memorial for the son of a friend. Despite affairs happening on the world stage which capture everyone’s attention just now, these life passages carry on, as ever they have done throughout time. We rejoice and we lament – these mere words hold such simplicity, such complexity. In the case of my friend, not only the loss of her son, but the loss of her life with him in it.

Each of these life passages spotlighted young people. Don’t you think that the older we become, the more we understand the significance of these milestones? We contemplate the ripple effects, the ramifications, the actions that lead up to that point. Joy and sorrow, pain and scarring, hope and prospect. Looking forward, looking back.

Each passage, a becoming.

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Praise God in the mystery of our grass-like lives, brief as a wind gust, with storms of pain and arid tracts of sorrow. Praise the soaring, disabling dawns that reach for eternity, last a second, leave a scar of joy.

Stephen Berg

https://growmercy.org/

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Curiously, I haven’t been able to land on only one piece of music to share with you today. So, I’m sharing all three of the songs I couldn’t decide between. If you don’t have time to listen to all three, I believe you will be drawn to the one your soul needs.

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Thank you so much for stopping in today; it’s been wonderful to have this front porch visit. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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A night can never defeat the sunrise.

Sumit Sharma

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Feature blossom Image by Екатерина Гусева from Pixabay

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©Joy Bailey scrapsofjoy.com