Probably one of the first strokes of grace in my life is my father's become totally paralyzed when I was eight years old, because it led me to become the kind of person I am now. Sometimes we understand grace only in retrospect. If someone were to ask me what grace is, I would probably respond, "It's all grace."
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
May BLESSINGS OF BEAUTY abound in your life, dear friends ... the simple beauty of a kind, random act of sharing ... the gentle beauty of early morning dew defining a spider's web ... the beauty of communal meditation in the Silence ... the terrible beauty of a great loving response to disaster ... the sacred beauty of unity in diversity ... the wondrous beauty of our Earth home from outer space. Pondering Beauty's gifts in the Silence can evoke a deeper appreciation of Her presence in your life. As Evelyn Underhill put it, "Beauty is reality seen with the eyes of Love. "
I believe that life is about finding the beauty inside oneself, and offering it to the world. I want to live a simple life of integrity and beauty; to live and work from the stillpoint, from the silence. I seek peace with myself, I want to be a person of thought rather than words. More than anything else, I am being asked to walk with slowness, thoughtfulness. Slowness invites an awareness of beauty.
~ from "Heron Dance," Issue 34, Rod McIver, artist
The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no one sees it. It is a Temple of majesty, yet no one regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not humans disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God, the place of Angels, and the Gate of Heaven.
~ from CENTURIES OF MEDITATIONS by Thomas Traherne
One of my mother's most amazing characteristics is the way she has always valued and created beauty, even at a time in her life when such valuing seemed to threaten survival. In this, I know my mother to be the image of God. Not only has God created all things beautiful from nothing; this is no more than we would expect. In those country barns, my mother recognized broken pieces of furniture for what they were and she paid for their re-creation by going hungry. In the same way, God as our mother recognizes the beauty within all the broken and discarded parts of ourselves ...
Exiled on earth as we are, unless we are able to content ourselves with that shadow of Paradise that is Virgin Nature, we must create for ourselves surroundings which, by their truth and their beauty recall our heavenly origin and thereby also awaken our hope.
Beauty lies at the heart of the tea ceremony. Each object used must be beautiful. Special cups are made for this ceremony. Even to look on these cups is to be brought into a wider, calmer realm of the self.
The tea master Okakura KaKuzo has said that beauty evokes harmony and the mystery of mutual charity... . All that we call beautiful is a kind of vessel, like love, that holds what we know.
Who can afford to live without beauty? Beauty fills us with passion; it graces us with joy and lights up our existence. A landscape, a piece of music, a film, a dance – suddenly all dreariness is gone, we are left bewitched and dazzled. If we get lost in dark despair, beauty takes us back to Center.
Beauty is before me And beauty is behind me Above and below me hovers the beautiful I am surrounded by it I am immersed in it In my youth I am aware of it And in old age I shall walk quietly The beautiful trail.
