Kathleen Botsford

Christmas Moments

 

As I share a few holiday moments from our past week

I am wishing you and yours

a Love and Peace-filled Holy season

and a Blessed

New Year

 

 

Time Passages

In Passing

How swiftly the strained honey
of afternoon light
flows into darkness

and the closed bud shrugs off
its special mystery
in order to break into blossom:

as if what exists, exists
so that it can be lost
and become precious

~ Lisel Mueller ~

 

Christmas Angels

 

Angel light

soft and calm

 

 

 bringing peace

to everyone

 

Christmas Chaos

Things are in full Christmas swing around here.  Sometimes I get a little frazzled as I loose focus and jump from one decorating scheme to another new idea for hand crafted gifts.  Then before you know it I am in a tizzy of my own creation with no one to blame but myself.  Last Sunday I decided to make some jeweled book marks with with my vast collection of beads and ribbons.  8 hours later my studio was a huge disaster and I had only 4 finished gifts to gaze upon.  The article that whetted my appetite in the first place claimed the project took all of ten minutes a piece.  Well, not mine! 

The photo above is one of my attempts at a Christmas place setting.  So many glittering, sparkling embelllishments to choose from.  What's an elf to do?

 

The Alphabet vs The Goddess

When I was younger, I had an incredible appetite for knowledge.  I read everything I could find on any and all subjects that caught my fancy.  If I was into trees, I had to "know" the names of each, the shape of their leaves and attributes along with their habitat and history.  When I became a jewelry designer, each stone was a new world unto itself.  I could sit for hours fondling and gazing into the depth of each new obsession.  The crystals and stones became my personal project.  I researched constantly as books have always been my mainstay in life. 

As I have grown older I have noticed I no longer have the urge to know everything about anything.   Does my knowing the name of a tree make it any more or less magnificent?  Does it matter if I hold a rose quartz in my hand or a pink opal?  Words and labels have their place indeed but of late I am animated by something deeper, more intimate.   This very sentiment jumped out of a poem this morning.

The world does not need words. It articulates itself
in sunlight, leaves, and shadows. The stones on the path
are no less real for lying uncatalogued and uncounted.
The fluent leaves speak only the dialect of pure being.
The kiss is still fully itself though no words were spoken.

Dana Gioia

Peace in the World

O Holy Virgin
When you said 'Yes'
To housing God in your womb
You asked, as its price,
For peace in the world
Redemption for all the lost
Eternal life for the dead.
May I always pray with you
That your sublime prayer be granted.

Peter Chrysostom

 

Reprinted from DailyOm 365 Days of Prayers with Andrew Harvey

A Perfect Day

It is a gray and rainy day in Chicago.  The house is full of workers and tarps.  The perfect excuse to put off any further Christmas decorating.  I do NOT want to fall down the stairs with my ankles tangled in painters cloths and broken family treasures strewn about.  A perfect day for a cup of tea cozied up by the fire with candles flickering and piles and piles of favorite books.  Thank you God!

Note From the Universe

What if, Kathleen, you're already doing everything right, even though you're not sure?

And the surprises along the way have only sped things up, even though it felt like they slowed you down?

And all that you want is now barreling towards you, even though you can't see it?

And when it arrives it'll exceed your every expectation, even though your dreams were huge?

Wouldn't you be making some really weird noises about now? Whoohoo'ing, howling... maybe even whoohoo-howl-barking?

Well?

    The Universe