Inside
the place of safety
Inside
the place of peace
Inside
the place of friendship
Inside
where I am me.
Inside
the place of comfort
Inside
the place of warmth
Inside
the place of shelter
Inside
where is no harm.
Inside
the place of rest
Inside
the place I’m known
Inside
the place I’m loved
Inside
where I call home.
~ by Alexandria Sage
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daily Prompt: Home Sweet Home
P.S. There’s no place like home.
Posted by Alexandria Sage on April 1, 2013
https://simplysage.org/2013/04/01/weekly-photo-challenge-home/
“Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.”
~ George Eliot
The Weekly Photo Challenge this week has a theme called “Love”.
I know—where do we begin, right? I’ve got other posts on love so I thought I’d focus on one particular type of love. Can you guess? These photos are just candid shots, some very poor images, but you cannot deny the very spirit of motherhood in them.
Sometimes love needs no explanation or definition. You just know it when you see it. Don’t you just see love in the photo above?
Now that my children are grown and in their twenties, trying to find their way, I do something I swore I would never do.
I worry.
If I let my mind wander and dwell it can flourish into a constant panic attack in my chest. I just have to push the “Stop” button sometimes. A lot of these thoughts can wander into places imagined, things that may never take place; but what of the real problems they face? Is there anything I can really do?
All three of my children are healthy, loving, and growing in wisdom. They are making good decisions as they face the realities of life. I thank God each day for them and turn my anxious thoughts into prayers. I wholeheartedly enjoy them.
I reminisce at their childhood. When they stumbled and got hurt I could scoop them up with heavy doses of mother-love and lots of band aids and everything was just fine. In fact, everything was just fine as long as they were in my hands, tucked safely in my arms. My arms could snug them tight and my hands could stroke and soothe. But then I learned the simultaneous joy and pain of motherhood.
And that was letting go …
First to preschool, then kindergarten, on and on.
My arms and hands were emptied of them and the thoughts would begin—are they okay? Will they get hurt? What if someone is mean to them?
As they grew out of physical harm the wounds of the heart kept my intuition on its toes. Once again, my touch could soothe. And each hurt pinched my own heart a bit. Still does. When you carry them inside you for those nine long months there is that strong bond of just “knowing”.
And I try not to worry. I try to pray. But I catch my hands, my arms. Empty. Where are they right this minute? Are they happy? Are they suffering? Is there anything I can do right this minute?
I thought about my grandmother, how she did this, standing there wringing her hands. My mom did, too.
Now I am doing it.
Why, oh why, oh why? This has just got to stop! And one day it did. While rocking my sweet grandson I figured it all out …
The only time we feel our children are safe is when they are in our arms. When they are not we wring our hands. Our arms and hands must be wrapped around them, else worry never leaves us.
I remember the moment of their birth cradled first in my open hands, me all giddy, forgetting the horrific trauma of the prior moments! You’d think those moments would linger but no—our hands are full of a wonder so great the birth pangs slip easily from our memories as our hands and arms wrap around that gracious gift. And so it goes from the time they are born …
if they are not in our arms, we wring out hands. Our hands must, they must do something! Our arms, our hands hold the key to their safety, their wholeness, their existence, don’t they!
What are we to do with our empty hands? What should fill our hands when our children do not?
Why not assume a different position … and a difference perspective? Unclench and pry apart, then turn those wringing hands into peaceful palms together, then point them heavenward … in prayer.
Could it be for this very reason that hands folded together are prayer’s only adornment? I wonder that perhaps God knew mothers would need something useful to do with our hands when our little ones are grown and out in the great big world.
For in this simple gesture is the truest place where heaven does move earth, as a mother’s prayer is borne like no other. For those folded hands replace the empty hands and fill the heavens with songs whispering the best and highest we can do for our children—place them in the hands of the One who never sleeps and has His eye on them at all times.
Other interpretations of the Weekly Photo Challenge that I like:
Posted by Alexandria Sage on February 1, 2013
https://simplysage.org/2013/02/01/mother-loads-of-love-weekly-photo-challenge-love/
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ” ~ Norman Vincent Peale
“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ” ~ Roy L. Smith
“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but since when is Christmas about sense, anyway? It is about a child, of long ago and far away, and it is about the child of now. In you and me. Waiting behind the door of our hearts for something wonderful to happen. A child who is impractical, unrealistic, simple-minded and terribly vulnerable to joy.” ~ Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
“For all our high and lofty talk,
We are but children heart-to-heart,
Seeking shelter from the storm,
Places safe and warm,
And love … Outrageous, messed-up, joyous, crazy love.
Just plain love. (Presents under the tree helps a lot, too.)” ~ Alexandria Sage
“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall” ~ Larry Wilde
“God is here. This truth should fill our lives, and every Christmas should be for us a new and special meeting with God, when we allow his light and grace to enter deep into our soul.” ~ Josemaría Escrivá,
Christ Is Passing by
Related articles
Posted by Alexandria Sage on December 6, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/12/06/christmas-reflections/
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, patience.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
~ Oren Arnold
Related articles:
Weekly Image of Life: Happy Holidays
Posted by Alexandria Sage on November 25, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/11/25/christmas-gift-suggestions-2/
“Before you go out into the world, wash your face in the clear crystal of praise. Bury each yesterday in the fine linen and spices of thankfulness.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
“The man who has forgotten to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
“Every breath is a battle between grudgery and gratitude. Give thanks…and you win joy.” ~ Ann Voskamp
“O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry. When I have work, help me to remember the jobless. When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all.
When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer. And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency, bestir my compassion,
And be concerned enough to help—by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen.” ~ Samuel F. Pugh
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Peace,
Alexandria
Related articles
Posted by Alexandria Sage on November 23, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/11/23/thanksgiving-reflections/
A favorite hang-out | Pink fountain for a good cause. Cheery mums galore.
Favorite weather | Autumn hints, cleansing rain, cloud-break.
Lingering mist.
Favorite time | Post-breakfast desertion. Kids safe at school. Sigh …….
A slice of time,
A shy, favored friend.
A Sliver of Happy.
“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”
~ Joseph Campbell
“A friend is one to whom you may pour out all the contents of your heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” ~ Unknown
“Find the joy in your life. Laugh hard, laugh long, and laugh loud. There is something that brings joy to each of us. Find out what it is for you and work hard to get more of it.” ~ Stephen Deal
__________________________________________________________________
Referring articles:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/weekly-photo-challenge-happy/
vimeo.com/stevedeal (Twenty minutes on decreasing sadness, increasing joy)
https://thoughtfulpaper.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/weekly-photo-challenge-happy/
Posted by Alexandria Sage on October 5, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/10/05/a-sliver-of-joy-weekly-photo-challenge-happy/
The other day I was talking with a 75-year-old woman about the frustrations of aging. The aches and pains, the limited mobility, the failing memory, the sagging skin—how it all created significant frustration.
We joked about the 98-year-old woman who told me the best thing about wrinkles is that they don’t hurt. Then, in a tone more serious, she admitted she just didn’t understand the value of all this “getting old” business. She posed a valid question. The question prompted some thinking,
Might there be a valid reason?
My Dad always told me he wanted as many birthdays as he could have as long as he knew he was having them.
Over the years, he collected more than his share of serious ailments. No one loves his family or wants to be with them more than Dad. So far, he is still hanging in there. But I wonder if he is beginning to question that statement.
Like me, my Dad is a Christian. We believe in the place the Bible calls Heaven, and life will be better there than here. It is a beautiful place filled with reunion, the pain and suffering will go away, and the tears will be wiped away from our eyes. Life will be better!
So there, in the midst of that conversation, it struck me. Maybe this horrific thing called aging has a purpose.
By allowing us to change our sights from the here and now to the eternal, it reminds us that we are visitors here, waiting for our trip home.
And most of all, it reassures us that the best is yet to come.
The few glimpses of Heaven in the Bible show it to be an extraordinary place, a place so wondrous the Apostle Paul could find no earthly words to describe it. For our families it takes away a bit of the sting of death. When they compare their loss to the gain of the loved one passing, only the selfish can wish for the situation to be different.
So what should we do in the meantime?
Remember the answer to the riddle attributed to King Solomon? The riddle inquires—What four words will make a happy man sad and a sad man happy? The answer was inscribed on the inside of a ring—“This too shall pass.” And in either case, isn’t this the truth? Life is indeed fragile and every moment is a gift from God. Because of Heaven, we can have peace in the midst of all circumstances and hope in a future that bears no suffering.
This life does not end here. It is just the beginning.
So for now, love the life you are given, accept the ailments as a badge of honor, and remember—your Heavenly Father has a better life ahead.
Thoughtfully,
Steve
Posted by Alexandria Sage on September 1, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/09/01/my-thoughts-on-aging-from-the-guest-author/
“A friend can be far away, but is always near.”
~ Anonymous
“A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
~ James 4:8b
“Even if you are far away you are always close to my heart.”
~ Anonymous
Posted by Alexandria Sage on August 9, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/08/09/be-near-be-close-weekly-photo-challenge-near-and-far/
“Words and hearts should be handled
with care, for words misspoken and hearts when broken are the
hardest things to repair.” ~ Unknown
Ever do this? Say something then feel the immediate twinge of regret? You wish, how you wish, you could somehow take them back. But they stick like glue. Sometimes they are just casual, oh so casual, “I didn’t really mean it.” We utter them right off the top of our head, just because we need to talk–oh, how we need to say something—oh, how we always need to be saying something. Sometimes they are tinged with hints of sarcasm—just enough hint to hurt.
Sometimes we lash out in anger. And that’s the worst kind—so far from kind. And then there’s the so unkind kind that cuts … deep, sometimes scarring to permanence—like a car that’s been wrecked and declared totaled. Total damage. If we would but look into the eyes, we would see the heart of each. But no, we shrug away, whispering, “So what.” Our culture actually takes pride in telling someone off. We hang on to the brash words of reality television and celebrate the celebrity spewing trash-talk. Bullying is a problem among our children. It’s like we celebrate hate.
What have we become?
Yes, conflict is part and parcel of life. But my mother used to say “Fight nice.” The word hate was so repulsed it was never allowed in our home, under any circumstances. Words can build or destroy. Choose them wisely—to soothe, heal, protect, build.
Why not declare to say, today, words tinged with, dare I say, love? And if you have nothing to say, it’s perfectly
okay to just say nothing.
“Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent.” Proverbs
17:28a
“Let your speech be always with grace.”
Colossians 4:6a
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ~
Plato
Posted by Alexandria Sage on July 14, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/07/14/fragile-handle-with-care-2/
“Love consists in this–that two solitudes protect and border and salute each other.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke , “Letters to a Young Poet”
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
I Corinthians 13: 6-7
This is one my entries for the Weekly Photo Challenge for January 25, 2013. For more entries click on the following link. I have a new post in the works for this theme but for now I hope you enjoy this. It is one of my personal favorites. The photos were a glorious accident.
Peace,
Alexandria
Posted by Alexandria Sage on June 27, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/06/27/love-with-borders/
Children have an insatiable desire to create, to dream. What better way to adorn a front porch than with these beautiful child drawings? Don’t children provide a continual delight with constant surprises of the creative urge? We smile, we laugh, we delight. We are captivated, enchanted.
But there is deep within us a simultaneous lament, an angst that pains the delight. We look bare-faced at ourselves. Life progressed and the weight of the world gradually nudged out the child—and the dreams, drowned in the cares of life, swirled in a whirlpool down the drain. The child within seemed to disappear. Then we become bearers of children and begin a quest, and cultivate to make it different for them.
But should we do no less for ourselves? Should we not reclaim the artist, the child within? For the artist within leads to one of our Creator’s intentions for us—joy. Sheer joy.
A twenty-something picks up a brush for the first time and discovers something wonderful
The insatiable desire to create was given by the Creator to feed our dreams throughout life and create, create, create into adulthood—to keep us, in the words of Steve Jobs—”hungry and foolish”—and become all we were intended to be. And we can find our “adult work” through nourishing the artist within. Our work will not seem like work. In a sense, it can even seem like play. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” Children are risky and lavish as they create. They are not gripped with insecurity, fear, and hesitation that bounds we adults.
A great-grandpa stays a child and builds something wondrous—Thomas the Train!
As grown-ups we must practice the art of creation and reclaim our childlike wonder. We must be intentional this time because we have lost our natural inclination to do so. Keep creating, keep looking, keep finding. After all, our Creator has the same insatiable desire. Look at the intricate beauty He presents to us everyday, everywhere—touches of heaven. Let us mimic Him.
Chalk is a great place to start!
Thoughts on this, please?
Peace,
Alexandria
Other thoughts on this:
https://simplysage.org/2012/01/22/nourish-joy/
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14 NKJV)
“To laugh often and much—to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children—to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends—to appreciate beauty—to find the best in others—to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition—to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted by Alexandria Sage on March 4, 2012
https://simplysage.org/2012/03/04/weekly-photo-challenge-create-portrait-of-success/
“The art of subtraction can frame life into a masterpiece.
Shift to really see.
I shift. Subtract. See.
“Whatever things are lovely… think on these things.”
I shift and subtract, see the things that are good and pure.
Step over wire fences.
The art of subtraction is the art of loving well.”
~ Ann Voskamp
~ Paul, the Apostle
Friendship.
What does this photo have to do with friendship? Please bear with me a bit as nature teaches a perfect lesson.
One of the mystery’s of photography is knowing when less is more. Sometimes you try your best to capture a shot when you realize if you shift, subtract a bit, you have a fresh perspective on the whole.
Isn’t that how friendship is? The give and take, ebb and flow—the forgiveness. Followed by fresh perspective.
The subtraction of the faults lend growth to the whole. This photo in no way captures the whole of the tree nor the sky that day. But shifting to capture less provided a rich perspective on the whole. And it’s kind of funny the way the eye still sees the whole. You see the rest of the tree. And you see the whole of the sky.
And that’s when subtraction becomes more than simple math. It becomes an art—the art of loving well.
“Unless you bear with the faults of a friend, you betray your own.”
~ Publilius Syrus
Another thing—the colors here are blue and orange—complimentary colors on the color wheel. And isn’t that how friendship is? The balance of strength and weakness. The result? The perfect blend of mutual love, laughter, and life—rich enduring friendship.
Peace,
Alexandria
Posted by Alexandria Sage on November 19, 2011
https://simplysage.org/2011/11/19/weekly-photo-challenge-friendship/
SimplySage 