Featured image: Oak Leaves II
There is a small oak tree
beneath a
canopy of pine branches,
whose leaves have all
turned yellow.
There is a small red
birdhouse
hanging, abandoned for
the season.
Quietly, seasons pass.
Time has come and
gone, never
to return.
Featured image: Kazan River
Change in our lives requires movement. This movement is like a river, a flow.
A river is grace. And this grace becomes destiny.
This destiny, filled with our Creator, is where our freedom truly lies.
This river surrounds us with caresses of freedom.
Surrender to them—for a beautiful intimacy and the yes, yes, yes to the flow of freedom in our lives.
Featured image: Different Journeys
Today as I sit quietly in the garden a gentle breeze brushes through the trees rusting softly the leaves. The same gentle breeze is caressing my face softly. Freedom for me is like this breeze, is like the wind. If I can think of anything that is free – the wind comes to mind immediately. But is freedom ever as free as the wind? No. But we can get close to it through the choices we make when we create and how we choose to live.
America is about freedom. America is about independence. America is about individualism. America is about not allowing others to do for you what you can do for yourself.
So how ever did the notion of freedom become linked with not figuring things out by yourself? The notion of being an artist is all about the freedom of coming up with your own idea and your own concept. Then, creating it with the same freedom you were able to use to come up with the idea.
Featured image: Hummingbird Late Fall 2025
Change
Have you ever noticed that change never changes?
Ha!
I can always tell when fall has come, the hummers are no longer here. And I can always tell when the rebirth of spring is in the air – the hummers return. The hummers have gone from my area now, and while fall has not fully arrived, there are definitely signs of fall in the air. Fall and spring are such incredible, beautiful seasons. They can symbolize change, and the progression and transformation inherent in our experiences of life, the cycles of life.
I think change is why I like writing histories. Histories can change slowly, or they can change quickly. Just taking one word from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: ‘luxury.’ The original definition of luxury was lechery and lust. Now the current meaning of luxury carries a far more positive connotation as it means “to grow profusely.”
And if you take the “idea” of “art” well we have all gone through the exercise of just “what is art?” question.
But this week the word change certainly has shouted change to me. I really barely knew who Charlie Kirk was, but the X generation certainly did – on both sides. Why has the news media broken down the story of his death into 2 sides – a binary – why? And once I knew more about him, I was saddened to the quick about his death and the change his death had brought to me. And the change in the word “fascist” I found very interesting – I thought to myself – why was the man believed to be a fascist? I would never have labeled him a fascist, yet another why of creating change, labeling others.
I always thought of fascists as Nazi-like, Hitler-like, yet this man was a Christian. So I looked up the root word fascist. Keeping this simple the word fascist seems to have been used by all political groups according to Wikipedia, “Anti-fascism has been an element of movements across the political spectrum and holding many different political positions such as anarchism, communism, pacifism, republicanism, social democracy, socialism and syndicalism as well as centrist, conservative, liberal and nationalist viewpoints.”
The point being words and their meanings change – but one word I believe carries the same meaning across every political spectrum: ‘freedom.’ I have written a lot about the word freedom. I will put it in my next journal entry.
For now I will end with a James Nathan Muir quote.
“FREEDOM lies just beyond the fences we build around ourselves.”
James Nathan Muir
Featured image: Sowing the Seeds of Change
The concept of “change” appears throughout history: people change, words change, concepts change. I have been mainly interested in how concepts change. I give two examples below; this is not meant to be all-inclusive.
The Bible: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.”
Judaism: “We will do and we will hear.”
The key principles reflected in these quotes are faithfulness, trust, patience, and belief.
Many poets have also written about expectations and beliefs:
“Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually.”
— Eileen Caddy
“Look and you will find it – what is unsought will go undetected.”
— Sophocles
“It is with my power either to serve God or not to serve Him.
Serving Him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world.
Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good,
which was in my power to create.”
— Leo Tolstoy
Personally, I think Tolstoy is right. The whole reason for bringing these ideas and concepts up here is “change.” Ideas, concepts, and words shift throughout history. Nothing is consistent; they change according to what different cultures—and the people within them—need in order to survive and thrive. The one thing that I have found that remains relatively stable is the concept of creativity.
Featured image: Spider Web
So delicate, the intricate, silky fibers of a spider's web.
These fibers are woven within the morning dew of the lush green grass.
These fibers are thick, not as thick as a cotton ball but thick enough to be
A loosely woven blanket for the American funnel spider, hiding deep within one
She has created funnel holes in her blanket.
Such a delicate, delicate thing this spider and its symmetrical color and design, and its web, and what appears to be
Chaos, but I am sure it is finely tuned.
Oh the hand of the Creator, and the spider's hands, or hands, all creators one.
Amazing things we can do.
Featured image: Ready Set
Your journey isn’t made up of ironclad rules. Your journey isn’t a recipe you follow, and everything will come out just fine. You aren’t a wind-up toy heading in the same direction as all the other wind-up toys.
Each of us needs to find our unique path to follow. We need to remove the key that someone else can use to wind us up and instead wind ourselves up, traveling our journey.
