Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Still More Joy

The power behind these words steadies me:


Don't postpone joy
until you have learned all your lessons.
Joy is your lesson.

~Alan Cohen *

I'm home now, after five days away--five days overflowing with God's transformative teaching. I'm unsure where to start this day, what task to put my hand to.  How do I allow what I've learned this past week to inform my daily life?



Still unsure, I listen. And listen some more.



Gratitude bubbles up for the beauty immediately surrounding me.













And I turn to this poem by Violet Ker Seymer, #16 in the Christian Science Hymnal:

As sings the mountain stream, Past rock and verdure wild,
So let me sing my way to Thee, Thy pure and happy child.

O boundless source of might, My praise must e'er increase,
For Love is Life eternally, Whose blessings never cease.

I sing my way to-day, My heart is joyous, free,
For what is Thine is ever mine, I find myself in Thee.

And I do find blessing. Peace. The courage to take one step forward, into this day.

* for a ridiculously wonderful overflow of joy, visit PersistentGreen.com




6 comments:

Ann Summerville said...

I stopped by your blog today.
Ann

aquamaureen said...

Well, hi there, Ann! Delighted to have you stop by. I was just in the middle of fine-tuning this post, so I'm not sure if you saw the finished thing. . . at any rate, thanks so much for leaving your howdy :)

Amanda Fall - Sprout editor said...

Gorgeous pictures! I love the realization that, as long as we begin with joy, it doesn't really matter WHAT we do. That joy will flow through us and through everything we do.

So glad to help you keep joy at the forefront!

Sharon said...

I enjoyed visiting your blog today--the photos are terrific.

Vincent NNANNA said...

There can't be more truth to this axiom that "Joy is the lesson." Many thanks for sharing. http//:vinfish.blogspot.com

aquamaureen said...

Vincent--you are most welcome. If you want a huge helping of "Joy is the lesson," visit my daughter's blog. She's Amanda at Persistent Green, and posted the third comment here. She has a lovely ebook on joy that you can get for free by signing up for her mailing list.