For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning
and is refreshed.
…Kahlil Gibran

can we sense the freshness of love? can love not be dismissed as sentimental embarrassment? how shall we recover the beauty of vulnerability? without a pedantic diatribe? can we embody the whole of love?

Every morning
Swimming up out of dreams
I surrender to being here
I let go into gravity
Into the way the sweet earth pulls me to her
Head, hip, arm, leg . . . . with each exhale I drop further
Into cool white sheets, firm mattress, bed frame,
floor, walls, earth, earth, earth. . . .

It takes practice
To give up habitual holding on, holding in, holding back
Every morning I open myself
And invite grace to have its way with me

….Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The faith of the heart, our primordial faith, is something we have all experienced in our peak moments of aliveness. How did we experience it? As simple trust, as confidence: trust in life; confidence that we won’t be let down. At those moments, when we live from our heart, we are in touch with the heart of things. Spoken or unspoken, this conviction of faith is the root from which our beliefs spring. When our primordial courage is high, our faith articulates its beliefs ad upholds them like banners playing in the wind. Could we really go on living unless we had, deep down within us somewhere, faith that life will keep its promises? We know: life is faithful. And unless, in our heart of hearts, we trusted that insight, we would not even dare to question and at times deny its truth. No one could survive without that basic trust which is the faith all human beings have. This faith is one aspect of grateful aliveness; it is the courage of gratefulness……David Steindle-Rast