The Call

In the words of Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tuckaway Morning

Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuckaway Farm
Yoncalla Oregon

There is fog in the valley this morning. We are spending a few days at Tuckaway. Our time here has been idyllic. I am sitting in the kitchen looking out the window at the barn and meadow. The other window is a kaleidoscope of birds at the feeder. A good bed, good food, good company, Good God! We have been busy planning our scutcher for next week. Bullard's Bar Beach is our first stop and then we are headed down to the Sixes River for some gold prospecting. We'll get down to Tofte Ranch around the 25th.

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."


John Muir (1838 - 1914)


Larry: What Do We Really Know About Each Other???

I was thinking of this just a few weeks ago as I was writing in my morning journal.......
The Brevity of Life.... my life span of 70+ years and counting are complete in my memory with the exceptions of the first couple of years and a few fragments since then. So looking back I can see the long trail that tells my story. On the other hand, my children didn't know me until they were born so there's a 22 year chunk of my life missing in their awareness, not to mention the 30+ years since they left home and began their own lives. So in their memories, my life spans about 20 years and even those years are incomplete because of my working hours and sleep.

Now I realize that is all normal but what struck me last night when we were reminiscing about Sherry's life (Sherry is Charlotte's younger sister that just passed on) was how little we are able to claim of her time on earth, how much of her story was missing for us. Then I backed it up a generation or two and realized that over time, our time on earth disappears. So that begs the question, what is left? "What's it all about, Alphie?" I believe we are incarnated to learn and create. Our interactions with others is part of that learning process; we learn from each other, they learn from us. The lessons are what lasts - the impact we have on each other, both "good or bad". So.... I'm comforted by the knowledge that our time is well spent and valuable, even when outward appearances don't seem to indicate that.
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