Bittersweet Mornings

sunrise on the beach

Dawn glows softly in 

    peach and pink...

looking out from my garden bench under the pine tree

 

deep

      blue
 
             flowers 


shout glory of the morning,

 

 

 

 

 

Sunflowers  s t r e t c h  towards the sun. 

 

Oh, that I would do the same!

 

                                         Awaken my heart.   Awaken and open.

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

May beauty

 

always set me on

 

fire.

 

                        

          Set me

 

             AGLOW,

 

 

 

       

                                                 

      and stretching 

 

                   towards Love.

 

 

                                     I love mornings in the fall.  Bittersweet mornings saying goodbye to summer, anticipating the color of autumn.

Mornings are soft, secluded and peaceful under the pine tree where I do centering prayer while sitting on my prayer bench. I mediate. I send gratitude, joy and peace out to the world. I hope my kind thoughts touch people somehow, and those people touch other people, until kindness settles over the earth like the gentle morning mist. I pray for the expansion of awakening and kindness. Not knowing how such things work, I simply pray my little prayers and trust the Mystery. 

I feel frustrated over all the violence, the earth groaning with disasters, pollution, starvation and all the other ills affecting our world.  So I do what I can do, pray, and make sure I love the earth in my corner of the world, love the faces in front of me each day, including the one I see in the mirror.  

My best buddy, Burren, helps me greet each day enthusiastically.   

Isn't she darling?

                                                     

sad little angel dreads winter too :)

In the fall I always become fascinated with light and shadow. Perhaps I'm drawn to this as the waning light reminds of the lessening of summer brilliance; the shadows remind me of the coming darkness of winter. There is a time for every season under heaven.  

My body and soul know how to move in rhythm with  the seasons, even as artificial lights come on indoors and out, even if my mind refuses to slow down or acknowledge the shifting patterns of sun, moon, and darkness.   If I pay attention and heed my body's wisdom, hibernate a little more and push a little less, the winter doldrums aren't quite so overwhelming.  

Yes, I can embrace autumn; I can prepare body-mind-soul for winter!




I'll end this blog post with a few more morning garden photos....

Joyfully,
Sharon

Dawn lights up the garden glass tower

garden basket - so beautiful in the morning sun

Anticipated these flowers all summer. They began blooming in September, just in time for my birthday!