Sometimes you don’t realize how hard it is until you stop doing it.
Advice
Time is moving slowly
Time is moving slowly to spring in the southern hemisphere.
If you listen closely you will hear the bird calls increasing in the morning and the evening.
The days are getting longer, the ocean temperature is going up.
Mother nature is testing her wing flaps and preparing for take off.
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the WordSweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet passMine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the One Light Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new dayMorning has broken like the first morning
Cat Stevens
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word
A little bit of trouble
A strong rip current and big swell always gets my blood pumping. There were two swimmers ahead of me who took the corner wide, while I ran the gauntlet and hugged the reef where the current was weaker. Luckily I caught a wave in and avoided a few scrapes on the shallow reef. As I waded out of the water I circled up in the shallows with the other swimmers. We had a laugh and a chat about how sketchy it was out there. We realized we had been watching each other.
Sport with a little bit of trouble bonds people together.
Bears and tourists
I keep seeing this quote bubble up on Twitter and I have to share it. I can’t attribute it to anyone, so it might be fictitious but there’s some truth in there. 😂
“There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.” – Yellowstone Park Ranger on why it is hard to design a bear-proof garbage can.
This one is for the ocean lovers out there
Thalassophile –
1. From the Greek word thalassa, meaning “sea,” a thalassophile can be defined as “a lover of the sea.”
2. A person drawn to the ocean in particular and bodies of water in general
Kind of ruthless
It’s rare to find and work together with successful people who are kind, compassionate, disciplined, tough and stubborn when it comes to adhering to their core principles. These traits are not incompatible.
Pretending that the good people always win is unrealistic. They are hard to find, but they are out there. Choose wisely and seek them out.
“Be ruthless with systems; be kind with people.”
Michael Brooks – 1983–2020
I know that truth and right have the universe on their side
2020 has been a tough year for all of us and it’s shaken up and broken what we thought was unbreakable. This poem by Washington Gladden brought me some peace and hope.
IV. Sabbath: Worship: Creed
Ultima Veritas
by Washington Gladden (1836–1918)
In the bitter waves of woe,
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,
When the anchors that faith had cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail:
I know that right is right;
That it is not good to lie;
That love is better than spite,
And a neighbor than a spy;
I know that passion needs
The leash of a sober mind;
I know that generous deeds
Some sure reward will find;
That the rulers must obey;
That the givers shall increase;
That Duty lights the way
For the beautiful feet of Peace;
In the darkest night of the year,
When the stars have all gone out,
That courage is better than fear,
That faith is truer than doubt;
And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,
I know that Truth and Right
Have the universe on their side;
And that somewhere, beyond the stars,
Is a Love that is better than fate;
When the night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him, and I will wait.
Going back to old things
A good friend sent me this quote today. The memories of the holidays I’ve taken, the cities I’ve lived in, and friends I’ve made along the way. We have them as we remember them, but those moments and feelings now only exist in our minds.
Hemingway captures it perfectly.
We can’t ever go back to old things or try and get the “old kick” out of something or find things the way we remembered them. We have them as we remember them and they are fine and wonderful and we have to go on and have other things because the old things are nowhere except in our minds now
Ernest Hemingway
Free range dogs
Dog parks and open land areas where dogs can run off-leash have similar overflowing energy.
I get so much joy watching dogs running at full speed, playing and romping around.
The dog owners are throwing balls, chatting to each other, and socializing.
Fresh air, exercise, and loving owners are good for the soul.
Moons and flames
“Moths and other nocturnal insects navigate by the moon and stars. Those heavenly bodies are useful for them to find their way, even though they never get far from the surface of the earth. But lightbulbs and candles send them astray; they fly into the heat or the flame and die. For these creatures, to arrive is a calamity. When activists mistake heaven for some goal at which they must arrive, rather than an idea to navigate Earth by, they burn themselves out, or they set up a totalitarian utopia in which others are burned in the flames. Don’t mistake a lightbulb for the moon, and don’t believe that the moon is useless unless we land on it.”
Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
Don’t mistake goals as a destination, rather than an idea to navigate.
markbartels.org 