But There is Love and Love is Warm

 

Is not our main purpose to give joy to others? I cannot but enjoy the beauty and poignancy of this flower which lives here in Asheville. It is at once closed but with elegant leaves shooting out like long beautiful bells of joy. 

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When all You Can Do is Crawl, Smile

What is so amazing about Asheville is the people, many who came from farms and factories to become a people so strong and yet so tender.

When I was 6, my father became disabled, starting 40 years of when he said his legs felt like sticks. When I was 10, he crawled to bed - with a smile on his face. And in the morning he arose with pure joy bubbling over. 

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Summer Rose

The Secret lives of Roses. The Beauty. The Smell. The Touch. Always inviting. Just as summer is a feast for our senses, so too are roses. They abound in glorious abundance in front of the Basilica of St. Lawrence downtown.

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Blue Jackson

One early morning, my favorite time of day, I watched the sun rise from pitch blackness at my house in Montford, to the street lights in the darkness at the Vance Monument to the changing blue sky behind the Jackson Building. It is amazing how many shades of blue there are, some actually a bit disturbing, a bit messy. Sitting with that feeling and color reaches deep into our minds, the air stirs with morning approaching  and then the blue changes - to a blue like this one behind the sky, full of smoothness, a sense of aliveness, and a promise of bright joy to come.
 
But then I don't know, are the gargoyles friend or foe?

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Looking Glass Waterfalls, Majestic Joy

Looking Glass Falls, in our backyards, was created to manifest glory and Joy.

It's like a reflection of our souls, joy and light pouring out. I am reminded of the song "This Little Light of Mine." Odette did a wonderful version in which she recites Marianne Williamson's poem, "Our Deepest Fear." In it, we are reminded that  "We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone." 

When I saw Looking  Glass Falls, I had a momentary pang of fear. That I am playing small.

                               Your playing small does not serve the world.
                               There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
                               so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
                               We are all meant to shine, as children do.

As, the poem says, we are all bright shining lights of joy, just like Looking Glass Falls, right in our backyard.

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You Can Go Home Again

It's funny how life goes. As a kid, I remember reading Thomas Wolfe and being told by my parents about places mentioned in the book. Some that had changed, some that were gone, and some that were exactly the same. When I came back to Asheville after many years away, it snowed. I stood at the intersection of Carrier and Salola just a block from Rumbough where the park is and I listened to the quiet. Gone was my grandmother and my grandfather at 94 had just had to move from his house. Now 15 years later, parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles have gone on.

But you can come home again. The intoxicating smells are there, the comforting quiet of an early morning at home and old and new memories waiting.

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Asheville Enchanted

 
I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Often, I have criticized people who live in the shadow of the Mountains here who bitterly complain about life - if they just looked up, they would be inspired and grateful. But recently I realized I've been doing the same thing. Moaning about being a single parent, bills piling up, laid off and then hired only to have the position eliminated before I start. All those are real concerns, but...

But here's the big but. This morning as I prepared for the day I started doing exactly what I criticize others of doing - complaining with the backdrop of the most gorgeous mountains in all of the world. I have stood and listened to a friend in North Turkey Creek complain about things that don't matter to a hill of beans and behind her laid a garden of fresh vegetables and a mountain of green that rose as majestically as any in Switzerland. And lately I've been doing the same thing.

But today, I meditated and heard the birds sing and the streetlight illuminate a patch of trees, a sweet kiss of green light. That's what this photo does for me, reminds me that the sun I saw when I took this photo is bending down to light our day and show us how beautiful life can be... if you only see it as it really is. So today I choose joy and choose Asheville Enchanted.


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From Whence Cometh My Strength

At home in Asheville, this glorious, magical place

One bright morning last week, I looked up to the sky and thought about that beautiful verse all of us from Asheville were taught as kids - I lift mine eyes to the hills - and as I remember it - From whence cometh my help. 

I am not the deepest spiritual person, but in this area where we see beauty all around, it's hard not to remember how joyful we are and how great and mighty life is.

Here in this place honeysuckle and jasmine mingle and greet you with sweetness. Here we wish all the world can experience the same beauty and peace. 

This is Warren Wilson in Swannanoa on a bright and magical morning in June.

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