no. 11 - of absolutely everything

Morning

Salt shining behind its glass cylinder.

Milk in a blue bowl. The yellow linoleum.

The cat stretching her black body from the pillow.

The way she makes her curvaceous response to the small, kind gesture.

Then laps the bowl clean.

Then wants to go out into the world

where she leaps lightly and for no apparent reason across the lawn,

then sits, perfectly still, in the grass.

I watch her a little while, thinking:

what more could I do with wild words?

I stand in the cold kitchen, bowing down to her.

I stand in the cold kitchen, everything wonderful around me.

- Mary Oliver

slightly less than 3 months back I bounced around on what I still believe to be the happiest day of my life with the loves of my life all gathered around me

dad had a health scare last week

the weekend continued to be slightly tumultuous

but there's something to be said about community and love

it triumphs over the gloom of hospital rooms and disappointing results

have you heard the movement of the Holy Spirit? have you heard the whispers of Christ?

2 and a half years ago, i felt them smack me in the face when I found silence at CER

2 years ago I was moved by invisibility and a roar so loud yet so silent that I found amazement in spiders leaping across a Polish field, stalled trains and undeserving warmth

this July I find hope and grace in a situation not ideal

a blessing in timings and families related by blood, community and marriage

and a great overwhelming gratefulness for the things that happen when they do

so with that, you may have to wait a little while to strike off the African continent on your travel list

a little while to see the lions and giraffes on a wildlife safari trip

but I promise it'll happen soon enough and in the meantime, the annoying women (and sons in law who are arguably worse) in your life will continue to nag at you and shower you with more love and prayers than you can imagine.

& here's the secret message my dad gave me when he kissed my forehead in the first image,

he said,

I love you very much.