"Night" for Illustration Friday

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine….

Oh the joy The inexpressible comfort Of feeling safe with a person Having neither to measure words Nor weigh thoughts Pouring them all out just as they are, Chaff and grain together. Certain that a loving hand Will sift through, Keeping what is worth keeping, And with a breath of kindness Blow the rest away….

“It’s not like I pine away for them when I’m not with them, ” he said. My heart would be bleeding right out of my chest right now if it didn’t feel so frozen from those apathetic words. I could be flip and say ‘his loss” but it wouldn’t be authentic. When the heart goes…

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I wish adults would allow juice to stay on their cheeks the way toddlers do. (I suspect more cheeks would be kissed if we did.) I was kissing my little muse today and smelled the strawberries she had for breakfast that were all over her cheeks. I closed my eyes and let my spirit soar…

Love is everywhere.