Younger Self I can see her there, looking confident, cocky even, but I know her well. She is terrified, has no idea what she is supposed to do with this “life” that is now, suddenly, hers. I wonde...Read More
After the Rain Its the sound of this creek flowing strong over and through mossy green boulders, how it speaks right to the core of me, washing away detritus, finding its course around the blocked, th...Read More
Beyond Once I stop wrangling with the noisy beast of ego, I can enter the silent stillness where creativity is a bird that carries me into the fullness of being. By Maria Brady-Smith Pho...Read More
Easter Morning, Early It is quiet now. I am remembering all the years of excited flurry, the children rushing down the stairs, faces still doughy from sleep, yet shining in anticipation. There were ti...Read More
Hallelujah On this crisp spring morning, the dogwood tree gracefully offers its abundant platters of delicate blossoms in an act of grateful praise. A royal carpet of violets covers the ground at its ...Read More
I Don’t Know I am still learning to take it as it comes. Words like “let go” and “acceptance” flow through me, have become a constant mantra. When I was younger, I worked hard to forge my ow...Read More
I write you a love poem I write you a love poem. I tear the page from my notebook, Fold it into an airplane, And send it to you. Caught on the breeze, It floats gently down, Engulfed by the fire That ...Read More
Daily Prayer It is here in these quiet pre-dawn moments that I have come to discover the Kingdom of Heaven within. At Your feet I set my burdens then raise my heart open, breathe in healing Light, bef...Read More
Changes We have lived in this house for so long that sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I half expect one child or another to peek around the corner. But they are all grown up now with their own...Read More
Calm When the noise finally stops and the silence that follows feels so unfamiliar, used, as you are, to the constant chaos, breathe it in, welcome it. Let that which has taken cover in your deepest s...Read More
Rhythm of the Sea It took a day and night to arrive in Ireland by plane. My spirit, however, lagged behind, gliding slowly over land and ocean. It was carried in by the tide to the Antrim Coast where ...Read More
Nourished So “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” -Albert Camus A gentle rain greets me this morning and from the greenness of my home, all the world seems...Read More
There is Beauty Everywhere Even the tattered tarp that covers the woodpile, battered as it is by the bitter wind, cups a puddle of rainwater in its folds, which it offers now, like a chalice, to the t...Read More
Happy Sunday morning. After the events of this week, I didn’t know what to say here. Do I post words of outrage? Disbelief? Fear? Despair? Or comfort? It is my personal belief that in times of t...Read More
A New Year It is a quiet day, much like any other, except for the awareness that a page, all used up, every line and margin filled, has turned. The emptiness of this new page gives a moment of silent ...Read More
Ideas Some people believe We are surrounded by ghosts, Old spirits who hang on, Wanting what they didn’t get- Revenge, Lost love, Closure. I don’t believe in ghosts. We will all leave behind A lif...Read More
Your Gift In this cold, bleak season, the cover of green long gone, all kinds of messiness is exposed. The world looks stark, turning thoughts to gray. Then, one, small, lovely thing breaks through th...Read More
How They Saved Me My prayers of desperation were almost always centered around my children. Please. I beg You. Bargaining, even though I don’t believe in that sort of thing. I would have given my li...Read More
No Matter No matter that I tossed, tangled in a blanket of worry or that my dreams, when they finally came, were stark and disturbing or that my foggy mind, exhausted, still clings to darkness. The bi...Read More
Today I have borne up, taken the blows, adapted to reality again and again, made the best of it, encouraged and taken care of others. But some days, I just have to stand still and let sadness work its...Read More
As They Were I visited the landscape of my childhood the other day- houses, schools, shops, some still recognizable and yet, with time has come inevitable change. After half a century, there is no tra...Read More