WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Friday, December 3, 2021

JUMBLE

            When I  look at the photograph below, the word ‘jumble’ comes to mind, because that’s what this scene in the woods looks like – a wild, free-for-all jumble, and not especially beautiful, for sure. We passed this scene along a trail we hiked this week, and it makes me think of so many other things in my 80-year-old life that have seemed jumbled, and it also helps me see, once again, that the jumble-ness comes not from the scene or situation, but from my own thoughts about it. My thoughts, I confess, are often jumbled, which can make everything around me seem jumbled as well. The scene below has a pristine beauty in its tangles and twists, but the beauty can be seen only by those whose minds are serene enough to see the miracles of life everywhere – which is definitely not me. I have overlooked so much of the loveliness of daily life simply because I am usually lost in daydreams about my small self and its desires and fears, and so the strange splendor of scenes like this go unnoticed. There’s unspoiled magnificence in this seemingly messy landscape, and perhaps by studying it, with openness and willingness, I might rise up enough in thought to see its splendor.

CHOOSING ENCHANTMENT
(Andy H., 70, Blessings, CT)

He chooses to be enchanted 
by just about anything - 
by the chanting of tree limbs and leaves 
in spring wind, 
by the cheers he hears 
among his thoughts 
as they jumble and chuckle together
inside his always teaching mind. 
He's continuously dazzled 
by the sunlight that lands on his bed 
in a breathtaking way
day after day, 
and he loves being charmed 
by the smoochy ripples 
of the old skin of his hands. 
He sometimes purposely picks out 
certain winds to watch
and be beguiled by 
for a few moments made of miracles
in this vast and mighty life
that endlessly chooses him.   

And here’s my queen doing a quiet meditation on the beach during a pause on our walk yesterday …