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The sound of calves in springtime noisily waiting for their morning and evening milk is a joy for me and brings back all the memories from my childhood to now. It will take time for these babies to settle into their new home but they have every comfort and feed to help them establish a happy life on the farm. We know animals instinctively know this world better than we will ever do. Animals from deep within their silence always seem to know who and where they are.
I love the pink and white contrast of heathers. Now they are young plants but they will grow and cover the bare ground in time and for one it is great to be able to do a little work. After my knee replacement I'm taking it easy and one day at a time.
No higher destiny is possible than to live our own lives, be in our time and take up our own space and be who we were meant to be here on Mother Earth's platform. The point of life is not to succeed. The point of life is to die trying.
I believe the glory of the open flower is beyond all telling, love, joy, peace in rich abundance. Share all these beautiful gifts and they will bring happiness to our own lives and the lives of others and see wonders unfold.
What I find is that time alone or time in silence can dissolve the distance between us and other people and between us and the whole outside universe. When we enter the desert of our hearth in that deepness the healing fountain begins to flow.
Sadness, joy or any other emotion is not really who we are so let's not define ourselves so narrowly. We are more than any other emotion at any time. All our feelings good or bad or in between will come and visit for a while then they leave. We will always be who we are deep down, essentially wonderful and as the sun belts down here this morning the music of the fluttering birds brings to mind the song "What a wonderful world".
I love trees and over my lifetime I have planted many and some that I sit beneath to draw health and inspiration from. I call it the "wood wide web". Trees are excellent companions and give off energy to us if we are aware enough and of course they keep us alive with our daily supply of oxygen. For today my wish for all is to let the breathing trees refresh all our lungs, our hearts and our souls and remind us we are all children of Mother Earth.
When we all return to our farms we know the feel of Mother Earth breaking beneath us and trying to balance us. It is also a great reminder to me to learn to walk upon this earth with confidence and clear eyed stillness that our animals possess naturally. So today my prayer is to let us all bless the imagination of Mother Earth and her animals and thank her for our dream filled hearts.
I believe when you give plants, flowers, trees or anything of beauty to someone else as a gift you are giving part of you as a beautiful inspiration to the recipient. We all know that something deep in the human soul seems to depend on the presence of kindness. When someone is kind to you, you feel understood and seen.
When I looked out my window of wonder this morning I saw a bright golden sunrise that fills me with hope and we all have a deep well of hope within us all just waiting to be tapped into. Then, when we lay our heads down to rest at sunset we do so in sublime peace, God's own peace which will surpass all understanding.
In the end the big message was being respectful and staying in the now. There is always something deep in the human soul that seems to depend on the presence of kindness and respect and something deep from within us expects it. Once we sense that then we are able to trust and open and express our body language freely, as it should be.
At daybreak a whole new day is born so be happy, let go of what is gone, be grateful for what remains and look forward to what is coming next. On the seventh day, the sabbath Sunday, God saw all that he had made and it was good.
Times of great joy, great happiness and some sadness but that's life. People lost, people gained, but overall I feel very grateful that I was allowed to live a life by faith and not by sight. We all have incredible power when we direct our intention towards life and our future.
Very often our wounds and our healing take us to places of better understanding into deep places of change, to places of purification and repentance and in these places we open up ways to recover with greater wholesomeness. Pain is life. The sharper the pain, the more real the life, the more appreciation and evidence of life.
This morning at breakfast we had people from all over the world, Europe, America, Canada, U.K and Ireland. What a wonderful group of interesting people all doing business from a base in Ireland. After much discussion it was agreed that people really make for a wonderful world if they work together with respect and in peace.
St. Valentine was a person committed to doing good and his legacy has stood the test of time giving us all an opportunity to free our hearts, a time for letting all intentions and worries stop, a time to free the joy that is inside us all and the wonder of our life awaken and soar free.
Places such as this give us time and space and a time to reflect, a time to come home to oneself. There are times in our lives when we need to let our soul love at will and to let our skin glow, to let our eyes gleam and then the promise of the world of nature and of heaven ripen. Think only of the joy that can awaken in us all. It is there for us all in our special place.
We, as grandparents are blessed with the grace of this privilege and my prayer for this little angel is that "all that is beautiful in you will blossom into a future graced with love" Happy birthday Ada Beth
Mostly for me on Sunday evenings I would sit or walk by the river in peace and solitude. I always found that there was something unique about this place and something beautiful was always happening to me and that I had a special destiny here and it enabled me to see myself with the same delight, pride and expectation that God sees me in every moment.
I believe the same applies to our lives that are so closely connected to the rhythm of nature and God so never cease to rejoice in the joy of God's will and His pruning.
The earth's whispers are everywhere but only those of us who have dreamt with the earth can hear them. My late mam often said "you will find the staircase to heaven through the earth's loveliness".
I thought to myself "city life has marked and scared people like me who are rural mind, body and soul". I think to myself as I drive around slowly that a return to more rural ways of life could be a source of renewal for this cramped population. Where does neighbourness come into the city life? Where does community come to question?
It will soon be four years since I began my daily blogs and I was thinking of celebrating the occasion with an open day at Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. It will be a day of mindfulness, prayer, reflection and peace open to all via a booking system or telephoning to arrange appointments and timings. It will be a time to see friends and recognise whose faces are kin and kind.
I often think of how much or many of us have become separated from nature, from our true selves and the source of our being. When this happens to us we need to stop, to listen to our inner voice and become aware and attuned and come back to ourselves and who we really are. It is not too difficult to achieve if we practice daily. Each day will only dawn if we are truly awake.
We have had losses, some wonderful people have passed on but the wonderful memories are safely stored and will never die. The years go quickly by and it is important to treasure and keep the love and joy we have known and whatever life has in store for us the memories, love and joy will keep us strong.
People are rushing everywhere and it is no way to live our lives. Anything that is forced or rushed is not whole. For anything to be worthwhile, even the fruits of nature, we need patience and time so over this weekend take time, take it easy especially if you are travelling and all will be ok.
What a joy it was this morning to awaken to see the first rhododendrons bursting with a flame of beautiful and fragrant deep pink flowers. It is a sure sign that spring has arrived and it is not quantifiable the joy that it brings to one's heart, soul and mind.
When I was a child we were taught by our parents to make the St. Brigid's cross and they would be hung up over the fireplace and over the barn doors to protect the people and the animals. The crosses would be blessed with Holy water and it was believed and still is. We believe that St. Brigid would cross the lands on the eve of her feast day and give blessings and protection to the homes and farms where the crosses were hung in her honour.
At this special time of year hope is beyond what we imagine because although spring always arrives it is always different, beautiful to the eye and heart and soothing to the soul. A great time to be alive and enjoy its beauty and promise.