For Peace Among the Nations

Today, I offer some simple ponderings :-)

A butterfly and a caterpillar on plants in the breeze at The Audubon Zoo, NOLA

Life is good, isn't it... Life, this short time of existence in community on a fragile planet in a fortunately habitable zone. An infinitesimal fleck of matter and spark of momentary awareness in the vast cosmic realm. Life is SO SHORT for us. The only thing that makes this brevity bearable in our social, political, technological, and global adolescence is ourselves. We have each other. I dream of what is impossible in my lifetime: one open world with distinction rather than divisiveness. I dream of borderless equilibrium where strife, poverty, and fear of each other no longer exist, yet uniqueness remains and is celebrated. It would take one or two thousand years, but it could happen. 

NASA: Earth, east

I love to explore other cultures and learn from people different than myself. I find different ways of living and alternately functioning societal structures fascinating. Thus far in my life, I've been to 30 countries. Soon, I will take a very exciting trip! 
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED about this trip and a bit nervous as well. I will be teaching music, visiting choirs, working with youth to plan worship service presentations, sharing fun times and knowledge, and I will also be giving presentations as a NASA Solar System Ambassador in the school systems! What a FABULOUS opportunity! Still, I know that where I'm going, as an American, presents its own set of problems and I have been mentally preparing for them. I feel certain I will be safe, but there are always chances that something could happen which could change that.I would be remiss if I did not address that. It's not a place where single women, especially Americans, travel on their own very much, if at all. Folks are saying "Oh you're so brave"! I am pretty unafraid at times, but it can indeed be mixed. Still, I feel very strongly called to go there. I have ever since I met the leader of the community I'll visit. I want to show them that we are the same. People are people. I want to be a bridge and one of love. I've tried to do that in my own life between people, programs, and more. We can each do our part.
This June, I'll travel to Israel on my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land! I am so greatly blessed by God, people, by opportunities, and by my own energy and initiative to create more opportunities. II'm living and leading a great life. 
I write all of these thoughts today because I am simply pondering life and in particular, my life. I think it's healthy to do that periodically. We never know how long we have and seriously, EVERY DAY is a gift, every single one. If you are reading this, I wish you a big hug and I wish you peace, happiness, and hope!

A prayer for peace in our world (from the Church of England)

Make your ways known upon earth, Lord God,

your saving power among all peoples.

Renew your Church in holiness

and help us to serve you with joy.

Guide the leaders of all nations,

that justice may prevail throughout the world.

Let not the needy be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Make us instruments of your peace

and let your glory be over all the earth. Amen

Live your life - NOW

Never allow waiting to become a habit. 

Live your life NOW. 

Take risks, dream and imagine, 

follow your heart!

Go and climb that mountain, 

Swim in that sea,

And be the life that you want!

My view from the train after crossing the Brenner Pass and heading back to Innsbruck, Austria

In Calm and Storm

"There are some things you learn best in calm and some in storm."

~ Willa Cather

View of the Rapti river in Chitwan, Nepal at the edge of the Tharu village

LEAPing into Monday

Happy Leap Year / Day folks! I'm currently not this energetic or excited about it, but here's my Bitmoji looking all excited :-) I'll get there. In fact, the whole weekend was sort of a transition to my being back to my normally excited and happy self!

                 

My weekend included a choral workshop at a Catholic HS in Baton Rouge, a meeting for the St. Paul's (and Diocesan) pilgrimage to The Holy Land, a funeral, almost no sleep Saturday night (stress), and a Sunday full of grading and paperwork plus cleaning my apartment, wheeeeee! 

                     

Still, I had some serious moments of re-realization of how short life is. Looking at how fast time passes for us on Earth, it just blows my mind again and again. I found myself thinking of all the things I want to do in life and all the adventures to be had. There just isn't any time compared to the massive amount of life that's possible. I thought "I'd better be thankful for what I've done, then......and I'd better be thankful right now"!  You know, I AM very thankful, but I feel the need to practice that gratitude more overtly and more often, like every day! "Every day is a gift" - I used to have that sticker on my car. I need to buy it again.
The past two weeks have been rather crazy health-wise. I've come off of some medicine (Medroxyprogesterone) because of some scary side effects and have been worried about that. I'm already taking an iron prescription and this medicine is, among other things, to shrink my endometrial lining, and also to help prepare me for a scheduled and necessary hysterectomy in May. The medicine can cause strokes (of the eye and more) and lesions, serious depression (to which I am already susceptible) and all sorts of things, but it's pretty rare. I did suffer a depressive episode and full on weepiness. I also had numbness in my hands, debilitating headaches, insane ocular pressure and pinpoint pupils. It scared me a LOT and that in itself wasn't helping the situation for this already-anxious person! ESPECIALLY since it happened in the midst of exciting and happy visits to seminaries. All the travel of the past few weeks combined with not feeling so well was hard.
After getting off of the medicine, I've been taking it somewhat easy and have been miserable with the withdrawal. Last night I used an ice pack for my headache and it is the ONLY thing that has worked. This morning, it's my first time in three weeks that I have only a minor headache, but still have ocular and temple pressure. 

Still, THIS IS GOOD PROGRESS!

Back to that being thankful part....I am TRULY thankful for no more serious side effects and for feeling a bit better. We never know what we have in the way of time left. This whole incident provided me with yet another layer of being thankful for my overall good health, for opportunities that lie ahead, and for life itself. Today, it SEEMS like we get an extra day, a leap day in a leap year! Aside from the real reason we have Leap Year, I'm treating today like a day "out of time" - a day to remind myself to look at everything with hope and gratitude and to be thankful for what God has already given me and what the Holy Spirit has in store for me.

                  

So, this post is pretty much for myself and to get all that off my chest, but if it helps anyone think about being thankful for every day, then good! :-) Sometimes, I just need to ramble on.

Lord it is night. The night is for stillness.

Lord it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done. Let it be. The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you. The night is quiet. Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace. The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities. In your name we pray. Amen.

This Tree

This tree stopped me yesterday on my way home from St. Paul's. I drove past it and then had to turn around and drive back back a few blocks, park, get out of the car, and just enjoy its beauty. We don't have what I would call a real Autumn or Winter here in New Orleans and I personally don't see too many deciduous trees around these parts so I had to stop and appreciate it. It's found on Esplanade Avenue, quite near the CC's Coffee House.

The Cows of Azerbaijan and A Prayer for Joy in God's Creation

A Prayer for Joy in God's Creation
(from the Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church)

O heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty:

Open our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works;

that, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve

thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all

things were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today, I had a look through some photos from my treks last summer and found a set of photos of the drive from Georgia into Azerbaijan. What a gorgeous setting, in spite of the fact that it was at least a million degrees (actually about 105) and extremely dry. I hadn't yet discovered the funnel web spider holes all over the fields (and thank goodness for that!) so I was quite at ease when we stopped to rest and so I could take this photo. This scene reminds me again that we are but a small portion of God's creation and need to keep that in mind. What would we be without the rest of our planetary residents? I, for one, love cows. I always have. The docile (for the most part) creatures in this scene give me the utmost sense of peace. It helped that I could hear faint bovine sounds and feel a gentle breeze. Even though the sun was blazing, it gave me an opportunity - and a duty - to stand still for a moment and observe life.

The Fields of Azerbaijan, summer 2015 by C. Carson

Never Take Life for Granted: Tomorrow is Not a Certainty, but TODAY I Am Happy

I'm sitting here pondering life. I should be working, but I'm not. It struck me yet again this morning how every day, every moment is truly a gift. So many of us take this for granted time and time again. I've always had an acute sense of time passing and its very vastness. Even as a child, I used to sit and "be" and just listen: to the sound of the waves, to the breeze under a starry sky, to the thoughts that came and went. Even so, I catch myself "suddenly" realizing yet again how brief our time on Earth is.
Tomorrow is not a certainty. 
I try to actively engage with life and not let my frustrations or ups & downs of particular situations peel away my inner peace and / or my excitement in general. This is easy or tough, depending on the day, but I try not to take ANY moment for granted. For the past couple of years, it's been every day that I've inhaled deeply and ask God where my journey was heading. 
Prayer is a privilege.
It allows us to connect with the Divine, a greater and eternal being, outside of ourselves. For me, this is God. The Holy Spirit is the aspect of the Trinity with whom I feel that I connect most closely. I am making a wild assumption here, but I feel that might not be common and that perhaps most people who believe in a Trinity feel more closely connected with either the Father or the Son.
                        
Think of how time - and I mean - Time as in ALL Time from the existence of anything and everything and continuing into an infinite future - think of how we fit onto this linear path. 
WE ARE SO SMALL.
It is breathtaking to me.
When I consider this, I am in sheer awe and amazement at life and being a part of it. It's what helps me live in today and live in the NOW.
Tomorrow isn't given, it is a hope.
I recently became a Postulant for the priesthood in The Episcopal Church! 
I AM SO OVERWHELMINGLY EXCITED AND HAPPY about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After years of pondering this calling and either ignoring it or pushing it away in various ways, a few years of spiritual direction, a year of being an Aspirant, prayer, discernment committee meetings, more prayer, ponderings, journaling, seeking advice, and paperwork, I could not be happier about it! The past year has been very affirming for me and living into this call - out loud - has become pure joy! (It has also had moments of humor as I tell people I'm on the road to becoming "Parson Carson" :-) I am extremely grateful for those who have prayed for me and continue to do so. I'm also eternally grateful for my Bishop (Morris K. Thompson), my rector at St. Paul's Episcopal (Fr. Rob Courtney), my discernment committee, and my St. Paul's Choir. In my bishop, I find a kindred spirit, inspiration, and friend; in my rector an advocate and friend; in my friends, choir, and committee a family.

                        

It has long been my soul's hope that God could use me in ways other than through music (but still through it too!) and that it could be official and affirmed, although I do love my current career. I have no idea whether or not I will make it down this road, get into Seminary, get enough Financial Aid, or whether other factors will rise up and prove insurmountable, BUT for this time in my time:
I am happy!
I'll sign off with one of my most favorite words (with an added blessing):

My friends,

Life is short, and we do not have 

much time to gladden the hearts of

those who travel with us, so be quick to

love and make haste to be kind.

And may the blessing of the One who

... made us, and the One who loves us, and

the One who travels with us, be with

you and those you love this day and always.

AMEN.

Adapted from Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)

                               

#AdventWord #REFLECT - Shine Up Our Mirrors to the World

Today's #AdventWord is #REFLECT
I think they probably mean 'reflect upon', as in 'consider', but it made me think of reflections and mirrors instead. We always have a choice in what we reflect back upon the world from going through a particular experience, from hearing opinions difference from our own, from judgement, etc. It's good to consider that other people learn from us, and not just the young and super impressionable, but all people. They see how we behave, how we judge, how we carry ourselves, or how we act when others may or may not be in our presence. 
                        
Then, I thought of Christmas and this seasonal time which includes so much shopping, traffic, interactions under stress, and more. People are pushed to the point of being frenzied. Our patience and limits are tested. "Being Christian" popped into my head. I've seen so many examples (on and off Facebook) of people pushed to the edge who show a passionate release of anger, general complaining, or overt harshness.The "crowd mentality" works both ways though - showing waves of those who express something people don't agree with and then the waves of reaction and commentary. Always the yin & yang.

"Being Christian" carries with it a world of meaning and actions, and, in my opinion, is supposed to promote a high regard for the well-being of all people. Guess what? Many other world religions are also centered upon the same principles of peace and brotherly love. In my situation in the U.S., I'm very fortunate to be able to worship easily and be at peace when and where I choose to pray or to attend church. The reflections around me now are usually strong and good, but they have not always been mirroring love and equal high regard for all people. Even in the U.S., it isn't always as easy for others in certain locations or if you are any sort of minority. Why is this? Who are our models? 

Who should they be? 

If we were all indeed reflecting the teaching of Christ all the time, then we might be in a better position to reflect his ways.The simple act of being Christian is an act of courage in places where Christianity is not welcome. Sometimes it can be a heavy task to NOT reflect what is around us. All the reflections over the ages have brought our world to the point we are now and are still messy, more like shards of glass reflecting in every direction. Still, this can create a natural collective beauty when the reflections and things we choose to mirror will be natural, uncontrived, and will lead us to eventual peace. We are still evolving in this world. Are we yet unfinished? Consider the powers of influence and actions and use them for good: as an individual, as an ideology, as a nation, as one world. The undisturbed reflection of the stalwart mountain below is from my visit to Zion Canyon in 2012. Simple, pure, and upside down. I find it just as beautiful as my usual conception of what a mountain "should be". 

Reflection of a mountain in a puddle at Zion Canyon, October 2012.

‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬ AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords. 

#AdventWord #LISTEN - Listen to Nature, for here are God's treasures

Today's #AdventWord is #LISTEN - December 15, 2015
Listen to the voices of nature: to pattering raindrops, squalling wind, falling snow, chirping birds, buzzing insects, murmuring springs, to the hum of life. Listen, for here are God's treasures. Listening will help us with ALL of the AdventWords we have had so far! 

Rain on the leaves outside a Province IV Synod mtg. at Kanuga in NC :-)

‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬ AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #WAIT - Wait, but not too long!

Today's #AdventWord is #WAIT
Sometimes we wait for things to ripen or to be "ready", but be careful not to wait too long. Perhaps this will resonate with you: I hear that quote "life is what happens while you're making plans"... and I think: life is also happening while people wait and then wait too long, often forgetting what it was they were waiting for or even their hopes and dreams. I see people dying before they've tried what they wanted to try. Remember to actually DO or TRY some of the things on your bucket list as there are reasons why the items are listed! I see people waiting for the OTHER person to forgive, to change, or to grow in the direction the waiting individual feels is appropriate. For a while I waited, for someone, alone, trying too hard and being too worried about being on my own. Then, I realized that I didn't have a reason to wait. I had to go out and live. Most of the time, it is true that "a body at rest, stays at rest." I ended up being awesomely confident, still open to meet people at any time, and went on to finish graduate degrees and travel the world. Waiting itself isn't bad, but waiting for your life to "become" or "come to you" isn't necessarily going to happen. You must get out there and live it. In some of my favorite words from William Wallace (d. 1305)
"Every man dies. Not every many truly lives"
Let a little wind lift you so you can get moving. You never know how you may be transformed.

I went paragliding while in Slovenia!

‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬ AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #DARE - Thursday, December 10, 2015

Today's #AdventWord is #DARE
I LOVE this word! I offer to you Theodore Roosevelt's words:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, 

because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

A little bug on a mountain overlook at St. Mary's, TN in June 2015.

I'm often struck by how small and fragile we humans are. Still, we have dared mighty things and continue to take those risks which advance humanity. 

Our very act of survival is daring! 

On a personal level, I have taken many risks which have brought me to today and I'm ever thankful I had enough guts for it all! Another of my favorite quotes is by Georgia O'Keeffe:

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and 

I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

While I haven't been terrified every day, there have been a-plenty!

Go ye and DARE to do something new today! :-)

#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#SSJE

#AdventWord #ASK - Prayers for Discernment

Today's #AdventWord is #ASK - December 9, 2015

I try to remember to ask for God's guidance along the many pathways I find in life. This past June, I found myself at Sewanee in Tennessee, walking between Stirling's Coffee House and another building. This pretty scene appeared before me and made me stop in my tracks. It hit me that we are always on a path in life, whether we know it or intend it, and whether we planned in advance for it or not. I ask God's guidance on my walk and I'm at a point now where that is a daily prayer....actually sometimes quite a few more times during some days!

                      

Yesterday, I turned in a giant application for postulancy (with supporting documents) in The Episcopal Church. Our diocesan ministry conference is in early January so I will have interviews then (with Standing Commission and Commission on Ministry) and should know more throughout the month. I feel called to walk down the path to priesthood and have been in the discernment process for the past year - and for many years if truth be told. Many turns in God's road have brought me to this place in my being and time will tell where I walk from here. I haven't written about it here, so directly, until now, but most of my friends know of my journey. I have been blessed beyond belief with God's calling and such a wonderful and uplifting discernment committee process full of growth, the support of my friends and family, amazing segue's from one thing into another that I could never have predicted, spiritual growth, my spiritual director, my vestry's nomination, and so much more.

If you're reading this, I ask you for your prayers, good wishes, and positive thoughts!

‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬ AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #BE - Ponderings for Monday, December 7, 2015

Today's #AdventWord is #BE

Have you ever rejoiced in the simple fact that you exist? 

What does it mean to take time to just "be".....not to "be with" or "be for" or "let it be". Think about it, we exist in a habitable zone at JUST the right distance from the Sun, and have had JUST the right amount of time to evolve into intelligent beings (though levels of intelligence are sometimes in question with all the messes we get ourselves into as a planet....global warming, violence, world strife and poverty.) Just HOW lucky are we? Our Sun and our Earth are actually an unlikely pair for supporting life. As a habit, we take many things for granted, including our existence.We would like to think that they will always be there...or perhaps even worse, we go about our daily lives, more than slightly oblivious to the precious and fragile nature of our lives. It would be reassuring to know that our galaxy is full of clever creatures and others with technology and that we might hope for communication. In fact, we do hope. 
However, for the present time, we are all we know. 
Made in the likeness of a divine being, God, we exist. 
Let us give thanks!

What makes Earth such a perfect home? Well, here are some reasons. 
Take a moment and tell those you love that you love them. Take a moment to say thanks to God, to family, friends, teachers, mentors, pets, and yourself. Consider all that God has blessed us with and meditate upon the fact that you exist. Be kind to one another, even if you disagree. Be a good citizen. Be a good neighbor. Grant yourself permission to rejoice in the wonder of life itself, the joy in all of creation, and the joy in one another. 

We are temporary.
We are fragile.
We are here together on this Pale Blue Dot. 

If that isn't something to be happy about, I don't know what is! 

AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.
#SSJE

Earth and aurora from the ISS

#AdventWord #GIVE

December 1, 2015 - Today's #AdventWord is #GIVE
Give someone joy! Smile, jump, hug, listen, love, ask, blow bubbles! In all of the giving OF yourself, remember to give TO yourself: health, time, love. BE the goodness of God to all.I believe that one of the most precious things one can give is his/her time. As for me, I am forever grateful to my friends, especially my closest, who have given me their time and taken moments to catch up with me, to laugh, to share an adventure, to listen, or to share their own lives. One of my goals each day is to see how I can be more giving and more loving. Think of how valuable time is. Think of how short our lives are and how we occasionally seem to have so little time. I think of all that God continues to give to us and my mind is blown! This Advent, I hope you will join me in an effort to occasionally slow down and reflect and to give of yourself and to yourself.
- Blow big bubbles......more JOY!

JOY in San Francisco, photo by Caroline Carson

AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords. Also, HERE is a link to the entire calendar of words. #SSJE 

A Prayer for the Human Family

A Prayer for the Human Family
(as found in the Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church)

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us

through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole

human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which

infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;

unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and

confusion to accomplish your purposes on Earth; that, in

your good time, all nations and races may serve you in

harmony around your heavenly throne; 

through Jesus Christ

our Lord. Amen.

Great Poetry Site and a Cool Poem "Oranges" by Lauren S. Cook

I love, love, LOVE this poem by Lauren S. Cook!!!! I also completely love and live for moments of the light she describes. I found it on a friend's Facebook page and it led me to Rattle, a GREAT site, to which I subscribed! Check out their goal: "To promote the practice of poetry" and " a community of poets" ! Awesome!

Oranges

by Lauren S. Cook

Today I sliced navels

for my son’s soccer game.

I took care to cut them evenly,

to trim the pith. I know

this is unremarkable––

a soccer mom, a fruit poem.

I promise I’m a person

of average tragedy who

scours each happiness

for its flaw. I can’t

help that they looked

picturesque piled

in a bowl. I nearly called in

my partner to look––

but I know the smallness of this

joy: gauze-thin, vanishing.

I’m ashamed that I told you,

but I feel something

should be said for the oranges––

not an ode, but a note

that they were adequate,

in no way failing, nor I, nor

the chef’s knife, nor the sun,

which lit the room in the way

it does sometimes, illuminating

the dust in the air, the specks

gliding on the smallest of currents.

Consider again, that pale blue dot...

Today, it strikes me that we would do well, as humans, to hear again Carl Sagan's message regarding the future of Humanity.

HERE is the a full video

"And our small planet at this moment, here we face a critical branch point in history, what we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants, it is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to superstition or greed or stupidity we could plunge our world into a time of darkness deeper than the time between the collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissance. But we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet."

                       

"Think of all that you know of the past, present, and future: people, places, things, memories, experiences...."

Now look at this stunning image from the Cassini spacecraft near Saturn showing our Earth from 898 million miles away. 
"You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other."

This image was taken on July 19, 2013 and used the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. What a stunning view of Saturn's rings and Earth. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

"All I’m asking is for you to just have the tiniest bit of vision. You know, to just sit back
for one minute and look at the big picture."

i thank You God for most this amazing day

I THANK YOU GOD FOR MOST THIS AMAZING

Photo I took in 2013 at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

     
                                          i thank You God for most this amazing

                                          day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

                                          and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

                                          which is natural which is infinite which is yes

                                          (i who have died am alive again today,

                                          and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

                                          day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

                                          great happening illimitably earth)

                                          how should tasting touching hearing seeing

                                          breathing any–lifted from the no

                                          of all nothing–human merely being

                                          doubt unimaginable You?

                                          (now the ears of my ears awake and

                                           now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-- e.e. cummings (1894-1962)
#poetry #gratitude #thanks #Nature #nola #Episcopal

Poem found at: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2013/10/26

And here is a GORGEOUS choral composition written by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) sung by The Stanford Chamber Chorale and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, under the direction of Stephen Layton. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbSY7b0fuM

Poems of Perspective: New World and The Reflection Poem - by Shel Silverstein

                                                                New World

                                               Upside-down trees swingin' free,
                                               Busses float and buildings dangle:
                                               Now and then it’s nice to see
                                               The world– – from a different angle.

Reflection in puddle in Zion National Park, Utah. Photo by Caroline Carson

                                                       The Reflection Poem

                                              Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
                                              Standing in the water,
                                              I look at him and start to laugh,
                                              Although I shouldn't oughtter.
                                              For maybe in another world
                                              Another time
                                              Another town,
                                              Maybe HE is right side up
                                              And I am upside down. ~ by Shel Silverstein, (1930-1999)