A Flurry Of Small Things
Last night I stayed home, ate wholesome food, drank only one beer, read a novel, watched the news, painted, washed my dishes and allowed the emotions of being just to wash over me.

This morning, I have perused this website… Visual-Voice. It’s truly stunning macro photography, and I have appreicated reading her entries as well. The posts are peppered with quotes.. and some of them have captured me this morning.. so I’ve put them here, bookmarked for later days of contemplation.

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.
~ Dwight L. Moody

Let your heart speak to other’s hearts.

What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?
~ Pablo Neruda

If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
~ Khalil Gibran

And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~ Anais Nin

Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.
~ St. Augustine

An Uncanny Juxtaposition of Time
So.. Kahlil Gibran has been a favourite for a long time, and it was his words that I poured over in my various bookstores follies last week. Around about here, I happened upon him in the phrase ‘Love does not know it’s own depths until the hour of separation’. Now even though he bridges Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and hedonism into one nebulous set of humanistic beliefs.. the words are still poignant and powerful and truthful, depending on the lens that you use. I particularly like this excerpt from ‘The Prophet’ that I read with Carlene last Friday.. particularly this phrase.. And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
Silence between friends can be a soothing balm, a wellspring of understanding, a strong bond. I miss silent space.

Friendship IXX
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.”

And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Khalil Gibran