You’ll notice things have been quiet on this blog for a little while, which almost never happens.  I took a week off at the end of the year and decided I really needed to be off – offline, off work, off blogging.

Walking to work on Tuesday, I was stuck in that slow transition back, trying to get the gears turning again – I could practically hear them moaning, I could feel the need to stoke the fires of motivation.

And then.

Two hours later I got a real scare that sent me into a tailspin.  Thankfully, the ground is mostly back under my feet again – at least it seems to be.

It was amazing in those first few hours how desperately I longed for – ached for – the chance to have mundane worries, anxieties, and fears; the chance to have all the important things in life be in place.

Two friends sent me notes with words of strength, reminders of the beauty in the world, the reality of hardship, the wisdom of ancient words. Whatever your faith, whatever your beliefs, there is a power in these words.

Morning Poem, by Mary Oliver

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

Mi Sheberach
May the One who blessed our ancestors, Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah, Rachel and Jacob bless (insert name here) along with all of the ill among us.

Grant insight to those who bring healing, courage and faith to those who are sick, love and strength to us and to all who love them. God, let your spirit rest upon all who are ill and comfort them.

May they and we soon know a time of complete healing, a healing of the body and a healing of the spirit and let us say: Amen.