Optimistic Voices: The Longest Night of the Year (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Longest Night of the Year (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

How funny - I just posted an MCC song over at Star Maker Machine (see P.S. below... :-)

Doing the headless chicken routine here at the OK Corral - attempting to get out of town for our annual family holiday vacation. Lots of driving but worth every mile - I must finish packing... but here are a few tidbits to tide you over until my return Sunday, December 28...

Happy Holidays to all - wishing you peace, in all its various incarnations, locally to globally...

P.S. Another SMM...

SONG: The Longest Night of the Year by Mary Chapin Carpenter

BOOK: The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards

POEM: At the Winter Solstice by Jane Kenyon

The pines look black in the half-

light of dawn. Stillness...

While we slept an inch of new snow

simplified the field. Today of all days

the sun will shine no more

than is strictly necessary.

At the village church last night

the boys - shepherds and wise men -

pressed close to the manger in obedience,

wishing only for time to pass;

but the girl dressed as Mary trembled

as she leaned over the pungent hay,

and like the mother of Christ

wondered why she had been chosen.

After the pageant, a ruckus of cards,

presents, and homemade Christmas sweets.

A few of us stayed to clear the bright

scraps and ribbons from the pews,

and lift the pulpit back in place.

When I opened the hundred-year-old Bible

to Luke's account of the Epiphany

black dust from the binding rubbed off

on my hands, and on the altar cloth.

QUOTE: "Now, near the Winter Solstice, it is good to light candles. All the nice meanings of bringing light to the world can be beautiful. But perhaps we are concentrating on lighting the world because we don't know how to light up our own lives." ~ Ralph Levy

2 comments:

MicheleDecember 25, 2008 at 5:40 AM
Brightest Yuletide Blessings to you and yours, dear friend! See you in the New Year.

xxoxoxo
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SusanDecember 26, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Hey, M ~

I'm managing sporadic e-mail checks along our journey, and just came across this - bright blessings to you and your family as well, during this holiday season and always... <3
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Language or the Kiss

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." ~ Goethe

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." ~

E. B. White

"Every day I walk out into the world to be dazzled, then to be reflective." ~ Mary Oliver

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." ~ John Burroughs

"So much working, reading, thinking, living to do! A lifetime is not long enough." ~ Sylvia Plath

“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.” ~ Claude Monet

“My heart wants roots. My mind wants wings. I cannot bear their bickerings.” ~ E. Y. Harburg

Beginnings (best first song lines ever - a work in progress... :-)

"I'm waitin' at the station, I can choose my destination, I'm a free soul, I got no chains, but it's a long time between trains" ~ Susan Werner, Time Between Trains
"Load the car and write the note, grab your bag and grab your coat, tell the ones that need to know, we are headed north" ~ The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You
"She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol, and I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal" ~ John Prine, Spanish Pipedream
"When I die, let them judge me by my company of friends" ~ Danny Schmidt, Company of Friends
"Dad coaches baseball and I am on the team, Mom thinks she’s Jesus Christ the Nazarene." ~ Joe Crookston, The Nazarene
"I love North Dakota 'cause you have never been there." ~ Kris Delmhorst, North Dakota
"I am not in love, but I'm open to persuasion." ~ Joan Armatrading, Love and Affection
"I took time out to write to my old friend, I walked across that burning bridge." ~ Michelle Shocked, Anchorage
"When she was three, her Barbies always did it on the first date." ~ Barenaked Ladies, Life, in a Nutshell
"Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white." ~ Counting Crows, Round Here
"I can't believe you, you bend your words like Uri Geller's spoons." ~ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nanci
"I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand, I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check." ~ Dar Williams, When I Was a Boy
"There's a Coke machine glowin' through the parking lot, call it a room with a view." ~ Todd Snider, Just Like Old Times
"There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief." ~ Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
"Hello, darkness, my old friend." ~ Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence
"The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves." ~ Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road
"Common Cool, he was a proud young fool, in a kick*ss Wal-Mart tie." ~ Dave Carter, Ordinary Town
"Just before our love got lost, you said, 'I am as constant as a Northern Star', and I said, 'constantly in the darkness, where's that at? If you want me, I'll be in the bar.' " ~ Joni Mitchell, A Case of You

Across the Universe

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, copyright 1952

Four Strong Winds

The Four Agreements

Everything we do is based on agreements we have made - agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that come from fear, deplete our energy, and diminish our self-worth."

In this powerful book that has remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over five years, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. When we are ready to change these agreements, there are four deceptively simple, yet powerful agreements that we can adopt as guiding principles. The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Longest Night of the Year (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

2 comments:

Language or the Kiss

Woman of Heart and Mind

Happytown (All Right with Me)

There's No Place Like Home(pages... :-)

These Days in an Open Book

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Beginnings (best first song lines ever - a work in progress... :-)

Eight Days a Week

What's So "Punny" 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?

All You Need is Love

Across the Universe

Four Strong Winds

On My Way to Where