30, 40, 60, 100

Lent, 40 days; School, 100 days

Is there a correlation in that? I may be showing my age, but I don't get this new idea of dressing 5 year olds up like centenarians to recognize the 100th day of school. I kind of took a wee bit of offense at the entire idea of 'cutifying' age. Don't we have enough to put up with?  The whole aging process is kind of ungraceful all by itself, let's not make fun of it by teaching young children to imitate the image. She is 95 years shy of 100.

I am on a rant, I admit it. Sometimes they just pop out and need to be aired. Who knows where they come from. In this case it would appear that it comes from my sensitivity at aging right now. We live in a society that shuts our aged away and dishonors the act of aging by perpetuating youth as long as possible. (Don't believe me? Listen carefully to television advertising.)

So what does this have to do with 40 days of Lent? Good question. Lent for Christ was 40 days of denial, solitude, and wrestling with temptation. Jesus was only 30 years old having such a crisis. Of course, in his day 30 would never equate to 30 today. I don't claim to be a scholar, but I would think that 30 years of life in that world would have given him perhaps our equivalent worldly wisdom of a 50 year old. We may have prolonged lifespans, but I don't think we've done a thing to enhance maturity. As a matter of fact, I think we have paid a price for this by keeping our young people young for too long and have lost respect for the wisdom of our elders. But I digress, and feel my father coming through.

Okay, Christ was 30, I'm in my 60's. what can I learn from imitating his completely unduplicatable time in the desert? I can't imitate his sojourn into the desert, it's not in my life parameters to go out into the wilderness.

Perhaps that's it. I can come as close to realizing what he faced, felt and internalized as my granddaughter did today about being aged by trying to look 100.  It's a very tiny particle of learning that she gleaned from that. I also believe that I shall glean minuscule bits of spirituality by such an imitation. She learned much more about counting to 100 than about the aged. I have learned far more about crankiness and misery from past Lenten experiences than spiritual truths.

Should I not learn more by meditation, prayers and reading, and perhaps a concentrated search for the joy in the universe, than I shall by denial and suffering? Frankly, I believe the Buddhists are right, life is about suffering. Shall I not, instead, search for the happiness in this incarnation and spread the word that Love truly is all you need?

She really did look incredibly adorable as she pranced off to school.  I don't know about you, but I can't prance anymore, it disappeared with age. Here is my small joy for this day in Lent.

BLD

Clouds In My Eyes

And yet another un-timed entry in loose regards to Lenten days...

Today I sat outside and watched the sky. I pretended to be Halle Berry in Their Eyes Were Watching God as she floated in the river. It's not hard to pretend you are floating when your head is a wee bit light to begin with. The sky was a rolling dance of layers, clouds upon clouds, small bits of blue sparkled through the breaks, followed by black shadows fringed in golden glow. It was incredibly comforting to watch clouds slip overhead, some to the east, some seemingly standing still, like so many layers of silk sliding across each other. The sky was doing the dance of seven veils for me. Birds flew, few in number, the breeze was cool but not cold. Solitude under the sky, a moment to just be. My little bit of joy to sparkle on my coil of Lenten musings.

To quote Thich Naht Hahn, "There is a cloud in my cup of tea."

BLD
Not the shot I preferred, but the one iPad suggests. Never let it be said that I don't work in concert with my equipment.

It's Lent.

In a traditional world I would be addressing the traditional practices of sacrifice and introspection. 

Not this year.  I've had a change of heart in regards to Lent and this year my body is treating me so badly that fasting has been imposed without any vote from me. So, I choose to focus on light and peace, to find small bits of joyous comfort around me daily.

This wonderful photograph, shot by a dear friend in the far north, appeared in my path today.  It spoke to me of her, and the memories I have of her and her family. It spoke to me of comfort, silence, solitude, and peace.

So I took artistic license with it and played a wee bit. The result comforts me on many levels. It reminds me that home is where the heart is, that home is your heart. So, thank you, Ann, for sharing this bit of tranquility in a rocky world.  Tomorrow I shall look for another small sign of joy and comfort - my Lenten discipline.

Pink house,

White snow,

Warm shawl of cold.

BLD

(Photo by Ann, manipulation & words, Barb)

It's been a while since my last post.  I have been immersed in wax in my studio unaware of time passing me by in the outside world. It has been bliss.

This past weekend I was blessed by bliss tripled. I attended the Gladdening Light Symposium in Winter Park, FL with Matthew Fox as featured speaker.  It is hard to put into words the experience of this weekend. It goes beyond a mountain top experience, beyond sitting at a master's feet and hearing words of gold, beyond experiential art, music and dance.  Every session was a pearl unexpected, a joy to live, an inspiration to prod.  The featured artists were far more than I expected, especially River Guerguerian. That is an entire separate post, along with a series of photos also. (the photos are on my facebook page and if you are a friend you can see them now)

Lest I rattle on and on, in purple prose, as I have been accused, let me forward to after the closing of the symposium (spiral dance with 140+ souls and Matthew Fox as leader) to our downtown experience. My fellow artist and friend with whom I was traveling found an exhibit of John Lennon prints that was only in Winter Park for 3 days and was closing that evening. No question that we were going. While there another artist, a new friend with whom I intend to bond deeply in the future, noticed a young couple among the gallery waltzers. She approached and received permission to shoot portraits of them as they 'spectated.'  It is over this weekend that my iphone has turned out to be my gem of a camera. I had no big equipment with me, she did, this other artist. So, she shot big, I shot iphone. The portraits are in process, but to the left you will find one sample to give you a taste of the flavor of the magic this weekend was.  I call this series "All You Need" and look forward to printing them soon. I expect to have five in the final series.

This three day span confirmed for me that magic exists, everywhere. All we have to do is look, listen, and feel with our hearts. Seeing the magic and gentle spirit in this young couple also affirms for me that there is hope for this world, for my grandchildren and their grandchildren.

All we need is love, compassion and awe.

Peace, 
Barb