Always I am learning from Kindred Spirits. First reading about tonglen on Windthread, not understanding and so finding my way to learning more …
Then reading a quote by Gregory Orr on Bee Creative and finding my way from there to a podcast On Being. And those of you who know me, will understand when I say it is hard for me to comprehend the spoken word, and yet I listened not once, but twice.
I heard words that touched my heart and stitched them.
“Turn me into song …
sing me awake” …
The trace of them holding the back of my heart’s compass …
as it becomes more …
Thinking I might take the advice of Emerson conveyed by Gregory Orr, to make my own bible by seeking out words that echo my heart’s truth.
And while it is all too easy to find righteous words …
befitting these troubled times …
still I dare to hope that we the people will find our way to words and just ways within which to find peace.
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 
Liz…I have much I want to say about your quilt. It is amazing! I cannot wait to see it next time in person. Inspiration flows from you. Blessings.
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With a twinkle in my eye I will say “I can’t wait to see it” too … ha!
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Your own bible, brilliant, and most certainly, it will be beautiful.
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I was always fascinated by the fact that Thomas Jefferson created his own bible … just looked it up and learned that copies of it were actually published by the Government Printing Office and distributed to new members of Congress until the 1950s …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible
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(((Liz))) this cloth holds such deep heart, may love and peace prevail in these dark days for my country of birth…
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I am heartened by the young people who are fighting for the soul of our country … even as I fear for their health in doing so. Change is in the air … may it crystallize into actions that make a difference …
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“Sing me awake” … can there be a more meaningful or heart filling phrase than those words to greet the day. Liz I am always so moved by how you take words, hold them in praise and then stitch them with intent and love and create an everlasting treasure…to rise each morning under this, is to rise and meet whatever will present.
I often go to your Peace Pin and my words that you stitched re Hope and I feel not only comforted but strengthened as well, nourished in a way…
When we lived in TN, we traveled to Vonore to visit the birthplace museum of the great Cherokee leader, Sequoyah. Sequoyah created an entire alphabet of 86 syllables to note the history of his people. I asked if I could take photos and so was able to get a photo of his entire syllabus.
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words can carry peace and I am humbled that my stitches have brought you a measure of comfort … and nourishment
and because I have not been to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, likewise for others who have not been, here is a link …
http://www.sequoyahmuseum.org/
which includes Sequoyah’s alphabet …
http://www.sequoyahmuseum.org/history/sequoyahs-syllabary/
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am equally moved and inspired by what you’ve gathered into this post. I went from these links to a little wander through https://alicewalkersgarden.com/. Hadn’t been in awhile.
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The hour is late … I look forward to this in the morning
and now it is then and I think … “what will become of us?”
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I too was caught by the idea of making my own bible… I love On Being so much, find so much there.
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On Being is new to me and I look forward to exploring more
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the cloth is wonderful, the stitched songlines offer consolation LIz
the link to Tonglen practice is what I needed to be able to feel I can contribute, something (as I just commented over at Dee’s how powerless and helpless I feel in the face of Everything…)
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thank you Saskia … whenever I find myself taking what I used to call “deep cleansing breaths” (from Lamaze days), I now envision taking in some of the world’s heartlessness and breathing out air for the trees to sanctify, to free from sin … tonglen
in a wonderful bit of synchronicity, I pinned a piece of cloth with your words onto “my heart’s compass” … its making can be found here, in a post titled “Joy Not Joy”
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there is such a coming together here.
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how we might make things better
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