Spring Is In the Air

Spring is in the air. Your opportunity to indicate what you like best about spring on the little poll I have going, is about to expire. So far, it seems that more people like flowers blooming and trees budding best of all. This photo is one I particularly enjoy. My father took it last spring at the Botanical Gardens in Baton Rouge. My favorite flowers bloom in spring -- daffodils. My heart delights in their cheerful bright yellow color against earthy green stems. After a long gray winter it is a feast for the eyes to see all the vivid colors of spring. And you? What is your favorite flower and why? Post a comment, let me know!

Honoring, Remembering

April is National Crime Victims Memorial month. For those who have lost loved ones through violence, a time designated for remembering can be important and a reassurance that the broader community acknowledges that grief is never completely swept away by the passage of time. For a while now I have been wondering what it is about April in particular that makes it rife with tragic events -- isn't mid to late April when so many violent tragedies have struck? The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma, the stand off in Waco at the David Karesh compound, Columbine, Virginia Tech?? Why? Why this time? If you have any ideas, post a comment. If there is anyone you would like to remember during this National Crime Victims Memorial month, list their name in a comment.

The Lingering Hours

Some of my fondest memories are of times spent around a table, sipping coffee, losing track of time in the midst of good company and conversation. The tables may be different, the faces change from time to time, but there is a universal quality to the time -- lingering hours -- where we pause, where we stay present, where we listen and share new stories and old tales, philosophical speculations and only-in-that-moment humor. In the lingering hours tasks are laid aside, agendas lost, and watches forgotten. Such times open up the possibility for rising to numinousness, when all present are fully present in the moment, attentive, engaged, open, free, connected one with all present, all with each one present. This is communion through and true. Cherish lingering hours.