Till the Sun Turns Black

Ray Lamontagne came to Boulder on Monday
and Matt & I had the privilege
of experiencing his music live.
Our favorite part was when "the band" would go away
and Ray would play by himself under the dim lighting.

it was quite a powerful show.
(though we wish he had left the band at home)

the first song we danced to at our wedding
was one of Ray's
Hold you in my arms
so we sang along in the back row of the auditorium
and held each other close

when mothers were little girls

mothers once were little girls,

and they too wanted to be heard

but there was no one there to listen to them,

no one there to care

and if there was it was often too late,

but then maybe it's never too late

oh God, please don't let it be too late

these mothers needed fathers too when they were little girls

there was no one there to hold them or to try to understand

everyone in their lives projected the pain they had received

and only perpetuated the sense of hatred and bitterness

oh God, let these mothers, these children be forgiving

no one is born responsible for all the pain

it's never any one person's fault

all the parents were children once

and everyone needs love

and needs to be taken care of

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i had coffee with two of the mothers from our program and i was shocked - i had never thought specifically how these mothers' childhoods might have been - and now it's clear, they too were needy, broken and abused and the thread of redemption i see in their stories via their children's faith is one of the most beautiful things i have been privileged to observe.

God of wonderful grace, i thank you for children and for open hearts willing to forgive and willing to believe in your love. Thank you for mothers and for healing - thank you for hearing us all. amen.

autumn leaves a beautiful mark...

on my heart...

as always i have been swept off my feet by the Fall and all that it brings. 2 weekends ago matt and i once again set out to enjoy the foliage, but things didn't turn out quite as we planned. We wanted to go to Aspen, but the snow storm held us back so we went to Georgetown and Gwenella Pass instead. The charmingly quaint town of Georgetown was celebrating the annual "Aspen Festival" so we decided to take part even though it was drizzling. We partook of a delightful wine and cheese tasting on the lovely property of a local historical site. It was quite unexpected and quite nice:

the lovely Euro-style courtyard

sitting in the mist,

enjoying small and large things

just a taste

we have already enlarged, framed, and hung

this foto, which is now

gracing the walls of the Yellow Room

grace and peace.

i want to make this my prayer

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon; 

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek 

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

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Aspen Hunting Season

This past weekend we, along with many other Coloradans, went hunting for golden Aspen leaves.  It was a glorious hunt - Matt got many beautiful shots with his camera and our hunt led us along a spectacular trail in the Mt. Evans Wilderness.

i love that there is a whole separate verb to describe the way the Aspen leaves quake in the breeze

as opposed to other leaves that i guess, just shake.

Here we are at the Upper Chicago Lake

we were the last people hiking "in" that day

it was once again incredibly glorious