So many of the songs that come to me right now are about light and persistence. "Lord, I want to be a Christian." The commitment to doing the work is not the same as being comforted. But music really helps.
While I've always loved and appreciated your writings in The Cottage, I'd never considered that there could be an added depth of insight until today. Your words today carry a deeper weight, insight and dimension. Why is there darkness and darkness such as democracy has never seen? Time to gather all the light we have in us...
Thank you for this. You've all been truly lights along our journey and I feel so grateful for that. All it takes is one light. Be a light bringer, bearer or passer.
Dear Diana, just remember that light drives away the darkness. So a candle gives light in a completely dark room, and a star twinkles bright in the dark, dark sky, which is how we see the universe. I remember listening one night to a radio program, when I was in bed and it was a dark night. The interviewer was talking to a woman who had survived the Holocaust. How did you continue to cling to hope, was the question, in such utter darkness? And her answer was just as I said, that light drives away darkness, even the tiny shining of one star in the sky, or the lighting of one candle in a dark room. M.
That song has been in my mind a lot lately. Long ago, I went with a friend to gatherings on Friday nights at Church of the Redeemer in Houston. The music leader (sort of) wrote that song - it brought tears to my eyes the first time I was in an Episcopal church that sang it. What a journey that song has been on!
Our study in Sunday School this whole year is "Experiencing the Heart of Jesus" and the lesson this month is Peace. Our scripture is, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the
world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid." John14: 27. God is still in charge!
I am another Canadian with deep ties to the USA. I have family in LA and my mother's side of the family lived in eastern shore Maryland. It seems that the darkness deepens, but the light still shines. Your unexpected contribution today, Diana, was indeed part of the light. I thought about the last stanza of Newman's hymn:
Thank you Diana and Richard for this wonderful surprise and helpful article. First a note to you . I am glad you were driving through Georgia before today. In middle Georgia it started snowing at 2:00PM . We knew it was coming and non essential employees were sent home early and preparations were made to be safe. But if you are ever driving through Macon or going to be you are invited to stop and rest awhile. Now your post has inspired me to share this with you as best I can. The flag "I fly" on important American days is actually an interpretation painted by me in 2014 at a workshop run by a combat veteran working through his own trauma and loving his country. The only requirement was that it had to have the 13 red and white stripes and stars on a field of blue. Number of stars was not an issue. My white stripes were different sizes of waves on a red background with some red peeking through the stripes. The blue background for the stars is a light to medium blue. Stars are clusters of stars in various "constellations" with the blue showing through. The instructor suggested I sprinkle some onion flakes on the constellations which I did. Recently I decided to do some refurbishing and have painted the clusters of onion flakes with some white acrylic paint, some of the onion flakes are outlining the "constellations." I call my interpretation, "DEMOCRACY IN ACTION." Taking that class resulted for me in a Spiritual Experience and painting from which I continue to draw strength . I don't remember the instructors name but I remember the sermon he preached that evening without even knowing it. I hope he is still alive and doing well. May we all have some peace and joy in this time. Love Bonita
Thank you for rebonding us to look for the light and to be the light. Southern Lights was so great, and then to come home and have the inauguration....
Thank you for providing support, encouragement, and community!
Thank you very much, Diana, for this post. Yesterday I attended an online Alternative Inauguration Event: We Choose Connection offered by the Good Grief Network which is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that brings people together to metabolize collective grief, eco-distress, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting planetary crises. https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/ As we pondered what we truly can control and what we need to let go, they encouraged us to remember that we do have agency about where we choose to place our attention. So when I read your post I felt heartened and supported in my intention to continue to place my attention on the Light. Also, thanks for referencing "A Wrinkle in Time"!!!
Thank you as always for this glimmering gift of light in the darkness and gloom. God is always with us, and we are strengthened by people like you, Diana. Down here in the Florida Big Bend, we had some snow late this afternoon. Very rare here, the light was gently blue as the fat wet flakes came down upon us. We in our sixties, were walking around catching the fat flakes on our tongues! The dark part of what happened yesterday faded away for a while and we played like children for a few minutes in the snow. Squirrels and birds ran back and forth, scratching for seeds and berries as the ground became dusted with white and then it began to pile up. We were amazed for more than a few minutes and it was wonderful. Your words and collected thoughts are so soothing to the soul. Again, thank you.
Dear everyone especially those of you in the US. The light shone at Washington National Cathedral, and is being shared around the world. You are not alone.
So many of the songs that come to me right now are about light and persistence. "Lord, I want to be a Christian." The commitment to doing the work is not the same as being comforted. But music really helps.
While I've always loved and appreciated your writings in The Cottage, I'd never considered that there could be an added depth of insight until today. Your words today carry a deeper weight, insight and dimension. Why is there darkness and darkness such as democracy has never seen? Time to gather all the light we have in us...
Thank you for this. You've all been truly lights along our journey and I feel so grateful for that. All it takes is one light. Be a light bringer, bearer or passer.
Dear Diana, just remember that light drives away the darkness. So a candle gives light in a completely dark room, and a star twinkles bright in the dark, dark sky, which is how we see the universe. I remember listening one night to a radio program, when I was in bed and it was a dark night. The interviewer was talking to a woman who had survived the Holocaust. How did you continue to cling to hope, was the question, in such utter darkness? And her answer was just as I said, that light drives away darkness, even the tiny shining of one star in the sky, or the lighting of one candle in a dark room. M.
That song has been in my mind a lot lately. Long ago, I went with a friend to gatherings on Friday nights at Church of the Redeemer in Houston. The music leader (sort of) wrote that song - it brought tears to my eyes the first time I was in an Episcopal church that sang it. What a journey that song has been on!
Blessings and Peace from the UK.
Be kind to yourselves and others.
God is in the darkness - may you sense Divine Presence upholding you, especially in the difficult days.
We each have the light. We need to fuel the light and be that for each other.
And the light dispelled the darkness.
Darkness has nothing to the light.
What we focus on is what our energy will become.
2Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Use it to the fullest.
Peace🙏🏼❤️🙌🏼
Our study in Sunday School this whole year is "Experiencing the Heart of Jesus" and the lesson this month is Peace. Our scripture is, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the
world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid." John14: 27. God is still in charge!
“Stay angry, little Meg” “Mrs. Whatsit whispered. “You will need all your anger now”. Madeleine L’Engle
I love that.
I am another Canadian with deep ties to the USA. I have family in LA and my mother's side of the family lived in eastern shore Maryland. It seems that the darkness deepens, but the light still shines. Your unexpected contribution today, Diana, was indeed part of the light. I thought about the last stanza of Newman's hymn:
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!
"The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not overcome the light." Jn. 1:5
Thank you Diana and Richard for this wonderful surprise and helpful article. First a note to you . I am glad you were driving through Georgia before today. In middle Georgia it started snowing at 2:00PM . We knew it was coming and non essential employees were sent home early and preparations were made to be safe. But if you are ever driving through Macon or going to be you are invited to stop and rest awhile. Now your post has inspired me to share this with you as best I can. The flag "I fly" on important American days is actually an interpretation painted by me in 2014 at a workshop run by a combat veteran working through his own trauma and loving his country. The only requirement was that it had to have the 13 red and white stripes and stars on a field of blue. Number of stars was not an issue. My white stripes were different sizes of waves on a red background with some red peeking through the stripes. The blue background for the stars is a light to medium blue. Stars are clusters of stars in various "constellations" with the blue showing through. The instructor suggested I sprinkle some onion flakes on the constellations which I did. Recently I decided to do some refurbishing and have painted the clusters of onion flakes with some white acrylic paint, some of the onion flakes are outlining the "constellations." I call my interpretation, "DEMOCRACY IN ACTION." Taking that class resulted for me in a Spiritual Experience and painting from which I continue to draw strength . I don't remember the instructors name but I remember the sermon he preached that evening without even knowing it. I hope he is still alive and doing well. May we all have some peace and joy in this time. Love Bonita
Thank you for rebonding us to look for the light and to be the light. Southern Lights was so great, and then to come home and have the inauguration....
Thank you for providing support, encouragement, and community!
Thank you very much, Diana, for this post. Yesterday I attended an online Alternative Inauguration Event: We Choose Connection offered by the Good Grief Network which is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that brings people together to metabolize collective grief, eco-distress, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting planetary crises. https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/ As we pondered what we truly can control and what we need to let go, they encouraged us to remember that we do have agency about where we choose to place our attention. So when I read your post I felt heartened and supported in my intention to continue to place my attention on the Light. Also, thanks for referencing "A Wrinkle in Time"!!!
Thank you as always for this glimmering gift of light in the darkness and gloom. God is always with us, and we are strengthened by people like you, Diana. Down here in the Florida Big Bend, we had some snow late this afternoon. Very rare here, the light was gently blue as the fat wet flakes came down upon us. We in our sixties, were walking around catching the fat flakes on our tongues! The dark part of what happened yesterday faded away for a while and we played like children for a few minutes in the snow. Squirrels and birds ran back and forth, scratching for seeds and berries as the ground became dusted with white and then it began to pile up. We were amazed for more than a few minutes and it was wonderful. Your words and collected thoughts are so soothing to the soul. Again, thank you.
Dear everyone especially those of you in the US. The light shone at Washington National Cathedral, and is being shared around the world. You are not alone.