This Christmas Eve...

2015.

A year of death, a year of life.
A year of heartbreak, a year of new found joy.
Joy.

Gazing out at the winter cold, the sun is still out, but not for long.
In solitutde, wrapped in blanket - it's a time of muse, a time of reflection.

London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Manchester, Berlin, Auschwitz (Oh, Auschwitz), Prague, Paris, Krakow (This town I've come to love most).
You've all given me memories and experiences that will stay with me. It has even become a part of me.

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time" - T.S. Eliot

To know the place, to know the people, to know yourself for the first time,
only because He gives Himself in every circumstance.

We are immensely loved,
to love immensely.

Onwards and upwards
in You.

Chiaroscuro

'Nora: You see, there are some people that one loves, and others that perhaps one would rather be with.'
- The Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen

In a room of opaque darkness,
a sweet light pierces through.
Hope overshadows, overwhelms;
Despair lingers with a fading grip,
as Autumn leaves wither at Winter's greeting.

"Who is like unto Thee?"

Moving on from impulsive reaction (leave those to chemicals),
into heart-full, mind-full response.
Behind that effortless stroke,
is a history of hard work, heart work.

Dilettante

“I need to be silent for a while, worlds are forming in my heart.” 
― Meister Eckhart

You never know freedom while your heart is constricted.
Constrained like clipped off wings,
it starts off with stark signals, fading into unawares.
What was once unnatural, merging into a habitual nature.
What do we give our hearts to? To who does it belong?
The answers; the Answer shapes our very being.

The chapters take shape,
many still remain a blank canvas,
but the Theme resonates,
from the beginning till the very end.

Being and doing,
rejoicing in them both.

Montage

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany (June 2014)

“The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.”
― Thomas Carlyle

A sense of enjoyment in people that I meet, places that I am, things that I do.
Now and then, a spray of displeasure, dislike and disappointment, but it dissipates...faster than it takes to win a thumb war.

A cheerful readiness to the unexpecteds,
a heart of anticipation to uncertainties, 
a surrendering to all that is past, present and future,
an ever abiding journey.

A spring after winter,
a blossom after barrenness,
a sweetness after bitterness,
a love after its absence.
Trust. Lean. Look.

You, You and You.
Beginning, the End and all the In-betweens.

Sentient

Munich, Germany. (June, 2014)

“How does the meadow-flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.”- William Wordsworth.

Life and its seasons.
Spring,Summer, Autumn, Winter,
alternating in exchange.
It feels familiar and strangely new,
in this uncertain certainty, certain uncertainty.

There are few joys equal to a heart that is free.

Freely Yours,
delightfully Yours.