MAY 13, 2018 Thank You to Ma

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With first toddling steps -
I placed my hand in yours.
Devotion and trust.
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With thank you to Ma.
Arts, sciences and morals
Through example taught.
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With gratitude for my earthly mother. You kept me warm, dry and well fed. You read to me book after book after book. Our home was filled with books on every topic from herbal healing to (literally) rocket science. Denied easy access to coloring books, I was given instead reams of paper along with colors, paints and multi-colored pencils. Through you I learned to put pen to paper not only to write words but also to draw images. When I was a teenager you thought it was fine that I painted on the walls of my room … and even painted foot prints across my ceiling. How many mothers would have sanctioned that!
Dearest mother, thank you for giving me wings. With time, I appreciate you more and more.  

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“Children should be taught right moral attitudes and right behavior not only through words, but example as well. Lack of such guidance is a major factor in the tragic breakdown of moral standards and behavior in this country, which has done more than anything else to destroy the family unit. And what has that brought forth? Emotionally crippled children. And emotionally crippled children generally become emotionally crippled adults, who have developed a feeling of rejection, which leads to bitterness toward society as a whole.”
~ Sri Daya Mata

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this photo was taken of my mother at age 23 in 1946. Helmi Mary Kempainen Witherington 
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Bell Calls 🌎 Rung By Breeze

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Bell calls, rung by breeze.
Beautiful tone, does soothe –
pulls me in to pray.
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Have you noticed, certain sounds evoke a very specific response. The metronome or clapping hands in even cadence makes me want to align my movements with the sound. I march steady and straight, as do those with me on hearing the steady repetition of sharp call.
An infant’s cry is disturbing – it is supposed to be – it captures our attention and through our bond, we hurt when the little one hurts. The parent quiets, the little one with slow and even words and then calm returns.
Last night, a light wind moved across the land, waking gently the chiming bells that hang from the trees in my yard: one set of bells is in a Juniper tree, three sets of bells hang from boughs in olive trees and one in a lovely little mystery tree whose genus I do not know, yet she happily carries a sweetly singing grouping of tiny bells. The bells from all the trees harmonize together, bringing a love song to my soul. Invariably, whenever they call – day or night – they draw to introspection.
With thank you to the winds that move across the face of the earth. With thank you for ears to hear and heart to feel.

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The image shown at the top of this page was taken at Ikegami Honmonji Temple in Japan. I do not know who took this lovely photo – the prayers hanging from the bells in this photo capture what I ‘feel’ when the bells on my land call each one carries a prayer call. Lovely.

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...with special thank you for Divine Mother's gift of Starr

 born on this day (a few years back)

sweet daughter mine  

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