She read books as one would
breathe air, to fill up and live.
ANNIE DILLARD
Words have changed my world. The peace, tranquility, and joy I experience has so often come through the books I have read. I am in awe of writers and poets who—through their unique creative expression, discipline, and sacrifice—have enhanced my own life. Such a debt of gratitude I owe to them for finding ways to continually offer me light, hope, peace, insight, aha moments, and kindred connections. I ask you, what would we do without our books?
When I read something that grabs my heart, I'll jot it down in my journal. And if it turns out that there's too much I want to copy down, I'll try to purchase rather than borrow the book. Underlined and 'starred', these favourite passages become guideposts—tiny lights filled with inspiration and focus. I turn to them time and again when I need my imagination refueled.
Today, I offer a few lines I've gleaned from my reading since the start of the new year. These words ground me even as they add a sparkle to my current Covid-quiet life. I hope you will find a shimmer of inspiration for yourself, making today's visit worth your while.
Note: Below, I bolded the particular phrases that speak to me in this season. Do you have any particular words or phrases haunting your thoughts (in a good way, I hope) these days?
May you find sacred space and make room
for Holy Presence, and there find exactly
what your soul needs.
JOY B
Respond to the call of your gift
and the courage to follow its path.
JOHN O'DONOHUE
present will shape our future. But we have to behave
as if everything we do matters. Because it might.
GLORIA STEINEM
Everything we do ripples out through creation,
i.e., we are embodied in all creation and therefore
part of what we are goes back through all creation.
BODMIN HERMIT
What doth God require of thee but
to do justice and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?
BOOK OF MICAH, OLD TESTAMENT
as shared by Anne Lamott in her book
Hallelujah Anyway, Rediscovering Mercy
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
lines from her poem "Famous"
Home is a symbol of the self.
Caring for home is caring for one's self.
GLORIA STEINEM
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
MARY OLIVER, "Praying"
and why in moments of darkness
we return to books: to find words
for what we already know.
ALBERTO MANGUEL
*
Reading gives us someplace to go
when we have to stay where we are.
MASON COOLEY
* * *
Wishing you a beautiful day.
Heart Hugs,
Brenda
xox
Photos: All Images from Pixabay