Tag: extravagance
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Impermanence
“Is not impermanence the very fragrance of our days?” – Rainer Maria Rilke The days have shortened, but summer has stretched long. It is mid-October, and the thermometer reads upwards of 80 degrees. I live in a liminal space where the heat beats and time is suspended. My sight turns inward; I move through my…
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Small Things, Simple Things, Nothings
What can anyone give you greater than now, Starting here, right in this room, when you turn around? William Stafford, from “You, Reading This, Be Ready” I dreamed last night I was sitting at K and E’s kitchen table, drinking tea and eating a slice of pear and stem ginger cake. It was cold and…
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Have You Forgotten?
For Good Friday this year I had the privilege of performing a spoken word piece at my church. The words are below; the backing track was “Slow Your Breath Down” by Future of Forestry, the piano and strings, instrumental version, which can be found on Noisetrade. Press play and relive the experience. Have you forgotten…
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The Life I Have Let Live for Love of You
More blessed in you than I know, I possess nothing worthy to give you, nothing not belittled by my saying that I possess it… I give you what is unbounded… I give you the life I have let live for the love of you… I give you my love. Wendell Berry, “The Country of Marriage”…
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All Around the Earth Cries: Grace Grace Grace
When rain falls soft but constant, when my heart has been in shreds for days, when words don’t fit the magnitude of all that is in my head, what can I do but step into the garden barefoot? The damp soft earth bends beneath my feet, carries my weight and the weight of all I…
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The Secret of Our Days
There are no fanfares these days, no shattering revelations. No mountain-top encounters followed by a plunge into the valley and a rocky climb back to the summit. These days there are no fanfares, only focused, steadfast footsteps towards the One my heart loves. He is here, He is everywhere, He is hidden in each moment.…
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Beauty-Stalker
I have become a stalker of beauty, for moments of extravagance. My life has recently intensified in terms of busyness; my schedule tightened and became rigid. My remedy: leave my desk, take long winding walks, steal time for conversation. It’s counter-intuitive and seems frivolous, but these stolen moments of beauty, these soul-feeding moments, bring me…
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Awakening
What is important is the moment of opening a life and feeling it touch—with an electric hiss and cry—this speckled mineral sphere, our present world. – Annie Dillard It could be almost nothing—morning haze hovering on a hillside, a shimmer on the palm of my hand, the cool of evening coming in the window, words on…
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Streets of Gold
When the light is fading just behind the hills and slants in just right, the asphalt looks flecked with gold, like a river of night, shimmering star-studded, whispering ‘Follow, follow…’ So I followed, bare feet on baked asphalt, following the sun sparks round the corner past the cricket field to the mystery tree. The mystery…
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What A Life I Lead When The Wind It Breathes: The Necessity of Extravagance
A few days ago I went for a spontaneous walk in the last hours of the day when the light was tinged with gold and the colors of the sky were shifting. And it was the most wonderful, to stand alone on a shining golden hillside with the wind making patterns in the wild grass…
Kathryn Kong 