Seeing

Again, sense of the importance, the urgency of seeing, fully aware, experiencing what is here: not what is given by men, by society, but is given by God and hidden by society. Clear realization that I must begin with these first elements. That it is absurd to inquire after my function in the world, or whether I have one, as long as I am not first of all alive and awake. And if that, and no more, is my job (for it is certainly every man's job), then I am grateful for it.

~ Thomas Merton, Turning Toward the World

Mirrors

I am grateful for mirrors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.

~ Ernest Holmes

Squirrel

Rain

ASK

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

~ Matthew 7: 7-8

Mr. Cardinal

The cardinal couple has a new fledgling, and Mr. Cardinal has been feeding it - 

Breakfast

Strawberries & Ricotta

Happiness

Neighbors

Windows

We are grateful for windows -

Flowers

Sunshine

We are grateful for sunshine -

Breathe

I am grateful to be breathing -

Showers

I am grateful for showers -
Especially with this heat & humidity!

Excessive Heat Warning in Southwestern Ohio

Heat Index values near to above 100 to persist.

A large area of high pressure will remain across the eastern United States through Friday. This high pressure will allow temperatures to rise into the low to mid 90s Thursday and Friday. The hot temperatures will combine with dew points in the low 70s to produce heat indices around 100. In addition, overnight lows are forecast to remain above 70, with nighttime heat indices above 75.

Vaya Con Dios

Skyline Chili

Prayer

"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out"

~ 12&12, Step Eleven Prayer

Popovers

I am grateful for popovers with honey

Tortillas & Beans & Jalapenos

Ice Cream

I am grateful for ice cream - 

Momo

Bread

Let us not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."

- Henri Nouwen, from Bread for the Journey

Appreciation

Quiet

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.

~ Alan Watts

 

Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters to a Young Poet

I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without ever noticing it, live your way into the answer.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Light

Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

~ Matthew 5:14-16

God becomes more a verb than a noun,
more a process than a conclusion,
more an experience than a dogma…

~ Richard Rohr

Summer Flowers

I am grateful for summer flowers

I am grateful for telephones

I am grateful for bees

I am grateful for the birds that live around me

Fun

I am grateful for fun -

Are you havin' any fun?

What y'gettin' out o' livin'?

What good is what you've got

If you're not havin' any fun?

Better have a little fun

You ain't gonna live forever

Before you're old and grey, still okay

Have your little fun!

Are you havin' any fun?

~ "Are you havin' any fun?"

I am grateful for the ability to change -