Always we hope...

Always we hope someone else has the answer, some other place will be better, some other time it will all turn out.

This is it; no one else has the answer, no other place will be better, and it has already turned out.
 

- Lao tzu

Plum Blossoms at Noon - Original Painting by Plastic Pumpkin

Your name is safe in their mouth.

A few months ago I signed up to get a daily Peace Quote from the folks at Living Compassion.  Every evening at around 9pm, a little quote about love, compassion, or peace, pops into my inbox.  Usually they are by famous people - Gandhi, Jesus, or Mother Theresa.  But the quote I found most moving of all was by a young boy, and I thought I'd share it with you:

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.  (Billy - aged 4)

This made me think of my young nephews, and how much I hoped that they felt their names were safe in my mouth.  And, it also got me thinking about whether my own name was 'safe in my mouth'. It was a very thought-provoking (or perhaps, 'peace-provoking') quote. 

The Gates of Summer - 

another photo from the Pathways Series by Something Betsy.

Look under foot

The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is "look under foot." You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.

John Burroughs
US essayist & naturalist (1837 - 1921)

Misty morning on the Mekong river - Laos