I love the Japanese Maple tree.  I have done post after post about this beautiful tree. This season I shot a roll of slide film of just my tree in bloom.  The slide film, Fuji Velvia 100, did exactly what I hoped it would: it brought out all the beautiful pinks and purples. Here are 12 of my favorites from the roll.

For Longing,  by John O’Donohue

blessed be the longing that brought you here
and quickens your soul with wonder.

may you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.

may you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.

may the forms of your belonging – in love, creativity, and friendship –
be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.

may the one you long for long for you.
may your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.

may a secret providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.

may your mind inhabit your life with the sureness
with which your body inhabits the world.

may your heart never be haunted by ghost-structures of old damage.

may you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.
may you know the urgency with which God longs for you.

Prayer is not a request for God’s favors. True, it has been used to obtain the satisfaction of personal desires. It has even been adopted to reinforce prejudices, justify violence, and create barriers between people and between countries. But genuine prayer is based on recognizing the Origin of all that exists, and opening ourselves to it. In prayer we acknowledge God as the supreme source from which flows all strength, all goodness, all existence, acknowledging that we have our being, life itself from this supreme Power. Once can then communicate with this Source, worship it, and ultimately place one’s very center in it.

~Piero Ferrucci

 

My talented friend, Alison, also has 12 images she is sharing with us today.  Please visit her blog for a treat.. and maybe some baby toes!