Summer Spinet

Behold the Handfuls... 

Our Master's field is very rich; behold the handfuls. See, there they lie before thee, poor timid believer! Gather them up, make them thine own, for Jesus bids thee take them.

A teacup. 
Some fresh mint, crushed seedless grapes, and iced black tea! A kind person making a living out of brewing  tea... at a stand on one hot summer night. I had my cup refilled all that evening. Unsolicited. Gratis.

A backseat book.

Token of gratitude for a totally deliberate service.

Two Flower shoots.

A generous lady pulling out two lovely flower giving plant to re-pot at home so I may have angels visiting me every single time they bloom!

A few too many other generous thoughts towards me

We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.

– G.K. Chesterton

A beautiful picture of Paris on a pink flaming evening...

A Saint.
In Memoriam... 

And when Sam heard that he laughed aloud for sheer delight, and he stood up and cried: 'O great glory and splendour! And all my wishes have come true!' And then he wept.      And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.      And at the last, as the Sun fell from the noon and the shadows of the trees lengthened, he ended. 'Praise them with great praise!' he said and knelt.

– J.R.R. Tolkien

A Wedding. My Sister's!

You have set upon their heads crowns of precious stones.They asked life of You, and You gave it to them.

And so starts September... 

Of Iced Coffee and Narrow Paths

And so it is... In this hot weather I decided to chill my coffee...

I sat there watching the ice cubes enjoy their little swim in the beautiful sea of dark aromas. After a few dances they decided to rest in an almost perfect circle at the edge of the cup. Almost perfect because one cube was missing to complete the ring! 

I kept trying to fix it with the straw but alas, I was making it worse, melting them away... I stopped trying and took a sip and then another... then looked again into the cup for some sort of revelation and I saw it right there: the complete circle, the perfect ring! Effortless... except maybe for a couple of massive glups! 

I knew I was hitting the bottom. I was hitting it in that cup, I was hitting it in the cup of life I am drinking too. But right there at the very bottom, the gap was tighter, the loop was closed. I remembered the narrow road... I remembered the path I have chosen... I remembered why I was drinking that cup... and I remembered that as we draw nearer to the centre, as we draw near the source, it gets harder but it gets perfect too... And I saw them together, these lovely cubes, almost vanishing but in a beautiful unity as if resting after a long race... and right then and there, I lifted up my eyes from the depth... and from the depth...

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine...

Let's drink to that!