Finally!

After many weeks of silence, due to a "hot and heavy" summer and early fall, I am finally back to blogging. I hope you have not all given up. Please send me a comment or email if you are still with me, to encourage me to continue regularly, and give me a sense of who is still looking. To all of you who are-----thank you!

Now that I am back in Sedona (for less than a week) I once more have the time and the motivation to return to reflecting on life and what I am experiencing.

The pictures that accompany this blog are of the entry into our Sedona home, and the place on the deck where I most often sit to contemplate the beauty of the red rock mountains and high desert valley that delights the eye and the soul. The curtains that hang at the entry to our house create inviting archways, openings into the time that lies ahead, and the surprises and opportunities that will be coming into my life. I wonder what they will be? I have a strong sense of anticipation and curiosity, for I feel I am entering a time of deep discovery. The figures on the entry deck in one of the pictures are accompanied by these words; "fruitful silence; delicious wisdom." These are what I know I will experience here, once again, as I take more time for silence and solitude, and "return to the land of my soul." The picture of the empty chair on the deck reminds me of the need to just "sit and BE." I have spent months doing too much, and BEing too little of the time. I believe that this stage of my life (I turn 68 tomorrow!) calls for more BEing and less doing. This is the perfect time and place for that.

The mountain I call "El Shaddai" towers behind the deck, reminding me constantly of the Divine Presence, and inviting me to keep the "high watch" of prayer and communion with that Presence as constantly and consistently as possible. Nothing could be more important.

I will begin the celebration of my next year at sunrise tomorrow, walking with Leo up a mountain trail to a gorgeous high plateau I call "Beulah Land", from which I can see the surrounding scenery 360 degrees. I will play "Thank You for this day/Life" on my native american flute, and maybe even dance a little! Later in the day, I hope to acquire a new set of hiking boots for all the future hikes I hope to take, and spend time with dear friends, along with John, my dearest.

You will be in my prayers of thanksgiving for a life full of blessings.