Category Archives: Twinkle’s Musings
where our allegiance abides
The spaces we are called to create together, whether in community or in our intimate relationships, need to be so safe and so sacred that they can hold all our fears along with all our joys. Here, our broken hearts are mended as they are loyally treated as sacrosanct. This is where our allegiance abides, knowing the road to peace is the way of peace and the path to prayer is the path of prayer. We covenant with each other and with God as we merge our hearts with our callings, loving our families and our neighbors as ourselves.
#StandingOnTheSideOfLove #PiecesOfPeaceOnEarth #TwinklesPlace
- a modified excerpt from my dissertation
finite mindfulness
“Mindfulness when struggling with addiction means doing things in a finite way in the moment. My son Daniel says it’s being peaceful.”
I love this quote! Angela is a crusader when it comes to helping heal addiction and her philosophy is as surprising as it is unique. (check out her website) and see how she is connecting celebrities to help with the mission of Rock the Record Straight™)
I am going to be thinking about how her idea of finite mindfulness relates to life practices in general whether struggling with addictions or simply seeking peace-of-mind and transforming negative feelings and thoughts.
Many spiritual practices turn our attention towards the infinite, which can help us see the larger picture of Oneness, yet it can sometimes also serve as a spiritual bypassing of sorts, which can become a habitual distraction, addictive in detaching (or hiding) rather than coping with what is present in our lives.
Bringing it to the finite perspective – which is truly what we have in each given moment –
is not only more manageable, but also practical in a spiritual sense because it opens the door to deep gratitude for the life we have, even if we are struggling in the moment, we are present to it and able to do something about it.
Thank you Ange – I needed this gem of inspiration today!
The Dark Season
pictures from this morning’s vigil
The original None
I was a longtime member of First Parish in Concord – I still technically am as I have not resigned. Yet, even Thoreau did resign his membership, he is still lauded there. And, to my delight, when I moved to Maine and discovered the majestic Moosehead Lake, I also discovered remnants of Thoreau-worship here!
a reminder of the ever-present condition of borrowed time
Vapor – teacher of magic, meaning and life
Vapor is a liturgy by The Liturgists based on the teachings of Kohelet (The Teacher) in Ecclesiastes about the vapor of all things.
Vapor Lyrics:
Oh the vapor of it all
It’s a chasing of the wind
The powers of the earth so pale and thin
We will set our hearts on you again
Heaven taunts the hearts of men
We can feel it from within
The beauty of it all
The mystery
The swelling of a voice
A rising sea
Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you
You are holy
Oh the mystery of it all
I can never peer within
I’ll never find the words or understand
The fullness of a God
Become a man
Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you
You are holy
Infinite and holy
A billion suns rise for you
Clouds paint the skies for you
Mountains stand tall for you
Valleys bow down to you
Everything rising to
Sing all our songs for you
Holy
The impossible and holy
Kings become fools for you
Kingdoms to ruins for you
Vapor finds ground in you
Music finds sound for you
Everything rising
Everything rising
Come like dawn
Like waves
Like sunlight
Bring this world to life
Come like rain
Like breath
Like springtime
Bring this world to life
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she stood there no more
“She Stood There”
In the midst of the shadows
In a darkness that haunted
She stood there still, silent, sorry, sad.
Plenty of time to think of days gone by
Loves lost, loves gained; her sorrow remembered
She stood there still, silent, sorry.
The seconds ticked to minutes
The minutes onto hours
She stood there still, silent.
She realized she could not have it all
So she settled for less; but yet only the best
She stood there still.
With her eyes wide open, her head held high
With a decision in mind
She stood there no more.
By: “Twinkle” Marie Manning
Originally penned in 1989 on Prince Edward Island, Canada
First Published in 2009 in Poetry to Feed the Spirit, Poets of Central Florida Anthology
https://mariemanning.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/she-stood-there/
This. This. This!
Regardless of how we personally interpret or experience the Holy. Regardless of which individual causes we are most inspired to dedicate time to. Regardless of where we place our priorities on our day-to-day lives. When any among our human family are adrift in turbulent waters of life, spiritually or physically, we are each Called to form such a chain as this. Because we are each other’s saviors. That is why we are here together on this planet.