by June | Nov 9, 2016 | Blogposts
This is a day like no other. The waves of grief overwhelm me. My soul aches. My heart is broken.
Fear begins to rise as questions and concerns about family, friends, minorities, the elderly, children, health care, the economy, personal and global security, the world, me and so much more, surface.
I want it to be just a bad dream. But it is not. It is reality.
In time, a new day will appear. But today is a day like no other and I will not ignore my thoughts or my feelings or my questions. I will not listen to platitudes of those who tell me how I should feel, what I should believe,
Today I am not strong. Today I feel helpless. And yet in the midst of it all,
I make a conscious choice to … strive for justice and peace among all people
… remain steadfast in my respect for the dignity of every human being
… safeguard the integrity of God’s creation … stand for justice and equality in all arenas of life in peaceful ways, in compassionate ways, in loving ways.
These are what I can do. These are what I will do. These are what I must do.
I may feel helpless, but I am not, even on this day … This-Day-Like-No-Other.
Photo & Text © june maffin
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by June | Nov 5, 2016 | Blogposts
He took the first step, and the next, and the next, believing in taking the first step “even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” One of those first steps, cost the author of those words, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his life.
Not everyone is called to such sacrifice but each is called to take a “first step” … a first step towards forgiveness of self, of another … a first step towards healing of body, mind, spirit … a first step towards freedom exercising the right and privilege of voting.
People have stood in lines for hours on end in rain, in snow, in blazing sun and heat to vote/ People have died – literally – so that others could vote. People have left their desperate personal situations and busy schedules to vote.
But, some don’t believe their vote will make a difference and they don’t vote. Some don’t like the thought of a woman for their leader or someone who is gay and living with a partner or someone who is physically challenged or …
Some can’t “see the whole staircase” and they don’t vote. Perhaps they need encouragement to register to vote. Perhaps they need someone to transport them to the voting station. Perhaps they need courage to stand apart from family and friends who are voting for someone who could lead their country and world to destruction.
Let courage flow so people can vote with wisdom.
Let kindness flow so people can be transported to a voting station.
Let encouragement flow so people recognize the importance of their vote.
May all “take the first step, even when they can’t see the whole staircase.”
Photos and Text © june maffin
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by June | Oct 17, 2016 | Blogposts
Bittersweet. There’s a word for you. An oxymoron if you will … a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. How can something be ‘sweet’ and at the same time, be ‘bitter’?
How about the time when your child went off to kindergarten for the first time, or graduated high school, or left home for college, or got married? Sweet – because you’re happy they’re growing up. Bitter – because you realize that your child is moving away from you. b i t t e r s w e e t
What about when your beloved spouse/partner/parent/child/family pet died? Sweet – because there is no more suffering for them. Bitter – because you wanted many more years together. b i t t e r s w e e t
The month of October in this hemisphere is the hiatus between the sweet summer and bitter winter. b i t t e r s w e e t
Life is full of bittersweet moments. How do we deal with them? How do we let them into our lives, but not take over our lives? It may be easier to push those moments down or away, but there is no resolution or healing in ignoring our emotional response.
It may be difficult to focus on the ‘bitter,’ because it is not easy to acknowledge the reality of the moment. But when we do, we are free to discover the ‘sweetness’ … of pride we felt as our child faced the milestones of their growing-up years, of joy we experienced as our spouse / partner / parent / child / dear friend / pet shared a love that transcended words.
It’s up to us to determine how the bittersweet moments ultimately resolve themselves in our soul. Will each be stored as a mixture of bitter and sweet? Or will we be able to release the bitterness and allow the sweetness to fill the empty spaces in our hearts and lives?
When the reality that my son is an adult, married to a wonderful woman and no longer “needs” me the way he did when he was a child/youth, surfaces, I try to focus on the blessing when I hear my son’s voice, see him, share special times alone with him. Bittersweet.
When the suffering of my beloved late husband enters my thoughts, I try to focus on the hope that he is at peace, is no longer suffering and welcome good memories of our times together. Bittersweet.
Bittersweet moments happen in life. How to embrace them is the question for each of us. May we be given the grace to give ourselves time and space to allow healing to happen so there are fewer bitter and more sweet moments.
© June Maffin
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<Photo of my beloved’s photo on the wall the week after he died with flowers from our son and daughter-in-love.>
by June | Oct 16, 2016 | Blogposts
It’s been said that bad things come in three’s. I’m not superstitious and would rather look at the blessings of three’s.
The three storms of the weekend have come and gone. While their fury raged, damage was done, power went out, and for most people, it was more threatening than damaging.
BLESSING RECEIVED: acknowledgement that fear is real, but doesn’t have to absorb all of our focus and energy.
The nasty bug that began on Friday began to abate a few days later. The sore throat is gone, fever only in the afternoon and evening and even though the coughing continues, I anticipate it’ll leave sooner than later.
BLESSING RECEIVED: A lovely memory of Mom and her delicious chicken soup brought me into the kitchen to whip up a tasty (and healing) chicken soup that helped use leftover rice, cauliflower, peas, lentils and roasted chicken.
The injured back that prevented me from participating in a workshop
and begin a calligraphy class series began to respond to three days
of rest, relaxation, ice packs, heating pad – and play!
BLESSING RECEIVED: Play helps refocus attention away from the back spasms and pain. I had a new paper design to play with in my recliner chair over the weekend and as a result, eighteen paper wreaths will find
their way into Christmas envelopes as little gifts.
How easy it would have been to focus on the three difficult (bad) things that weekend (storms, “bug”, injured back), but that would not change any of the situations. Instead, for each situation, I decided to look for, consider and focus on the BLESSING RECEIVED.
© june maffin www.soulistry.com/blog www.soulistry.com
by June | Oct 5, 2016 | Blogposts
Bought some flower seeds. Mixed the flower seeds.
Put them into a container. Shook the container.
Sprinkled the seeds in the garden.
Didn’t know what they were, except they were grown locally and had g r e a t potential to transform the back yard and bring beauty and colour and life into the yard and home when the flowers bloomed
Two weeks later – nothing was growing.
So two weeks late, sprinkled more seeds – nothing was growing
The next week, sprinkled more seeds – and they grew – and grew – and grew!
Jungle!
Flower Jungle
of cosmos, poppies, purple flowers, yellow flowers, pink flowers, white flowers, big flowers, tiny flowers and in-between-colours and sizes.
What to do?
Enjoy them! Share them! Watch them grow and bloom
and s p r e a d
Lessons to be learned … learn their names … learn which will reseed themselves … learn not to sprinkle more seeds on top of more seeds, on top of more seeds
And in the meantime, gratitude fills my heart for the beauty, aroma, colour
they bring into my life as I look out the patio doors and see all of the colour
And when I cut some bring them indoors, put them in vases.
Flower Jungle what fun you are!
by June | Sep 27, 2016 | Blogposts
Ahhhh, sweet organic corn on the cob from the garden. You began your life planted as kernel-seeds in trays on the dining room table which had been moved to the window to take advantage of the sun … no special lamps for you. And still, you began to grow!
Each morning, there was ooo’ing and ahhh’ing as trays were checked
and your efforts to burst forth from the soil were watched.
Ten tiny seeds. That’s all you were. And then came the day when you were strong enough to be transplanted. You stretched to the sun and tassels and cobs began to form
“Are they ready to eat, yet?” The waiting time was long.
“Not yet. They need to be rounder at the bottom.” The waiting time was very long. And then, finally, the harvest! First, two cobs for dinner – then two more – and then one night, dinner was … corn cobs! Just corn cobs from the garden. Feast!
Ten little seeds, you served us well. But in time, you withered so your stalks were cut and your roots dug out to make room for the fall veggies that are being transplanted in *your* place this coming week. And the cycle of life will begin. Again.
And, as it was with you, so it is with us.
As a seed was planted we began to grow, to bloom, and grew some more until the day comes when we tire, begin to wither and ultimately leave.
And then, a new cycle of life begins.
Photo and Text © June Maffin (www.soulistry.com/blog).
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by June | Sep 17, 2016 | Blogposts
Sweet little bee, so industrious, so intense
I expected you to fly away
when I leaned in to take your picture.
But you didn’t.
You kept “doing your thing”
… working
… burrowing your head
… sipping sweet nectar from the flower in the garden
capturing Creation and God and Beauty
in a gentle yellow flower
as you, busy bee were “doing your thing.”
While pesticides, climate change, disease, habitat loss
are dramatically reducing the global bee population
we can help by
… keeping old stems, decaying wood, sticks
… leaving sunny areas of the ground mulch-free, so bees can burrow
… planting flowering plants to provide pollen and nectar
and by letting bees be our guide in “doing our thing.”
Photo and Text © June Maffin www.soulistry.com/blog
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by June | Sep 11, 2016 | Artist - Hans van der Werff
It’s often been said that “An artist continues to live on after death in their art.”
My dear husband, artist Hans van der Werff, continues to live on in his art,
as well as many other ways.
Every winter, he and I would spend time in the Studio creating,
playing and preparing for the Fall Cowichan Exhibition.
This past winter was no exception.
We created, played, and together and each prepared our entries for the Exhibition.
While Hans enjoyed working with watercolours and pastels,
his love and artistic creativity was most evident and best expressed
in his pen & ink and pencil sketches.
Each winter, he would make a number of pen & ink / pencil sketches
and would decide which one he would enter into the Exhibition
(only one entry per person was allowed in the combined pen & ink/pencil category).
Sadly, when he died this past summer, he had not made his decision
so that decision became mine on his behalf.
I chose this one.
It won First Prize in the pen & ink / pencil category.
This was no a surprise to me. 🙂
Well done,Hans!
© June Maffin www.soulistry.com/blog
by June | Sep 10, 2016 | Blogposts
I peered through the no-longer-existing wire fence, looked beyond the tall weeds and grass to the farmhouse that was beginning to tilt and thought “What stories that building could tell!”
Like … tales of a long-ago time when it stood tall and erect providing shelter for residents and a wonderful space in the attic for children to play.
Like … stories its residents told as they shared, laughed cried and consoled one another
But that was long ago. Now the farmhouse is getting old and before long
it will be a relic. As we, who begin to tilt to one side, will someday be a relic.Let us not wait until it is too late to share our stories.
We all have them. Let us ask our elders to tell us their stories. They won’t always be with us to tell their stories. Let us record our stories in a Journal. Speak our story into a recording device. Talk about our “good old – and not so good – old days” so that after we wither and tilt and have moved on
to-whatever-comes-next our loved ones will know us in a deeper way
than they now do.
What are our stories? How to begin?
Begin at the beginning … what are our childhood memories? who was our favourite teacher and why? when did we have our first kiss? where did we go on our first trip? when have we felt vulnerable? what was our first paid job? who challenged us in life? how do we feel about the still-controversial subjects such as capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriage? when did we first vote – why – for whom? when have we felt affirmed? who is our best friend – why? how did we feel when we first experienced death (of a pet, a loved one, a friend)? did we “deal” with the death or ignore it? what were our hopes and dreams when we were younger? what are our wishes for our final days? how do we want to be remembered by our loved ones, friends?The questions are endless. Like good questions, they lead to more questions. More self-discovery too.
Let us tell our stories about our experiences, learnings, adventures, discoveries so that those left behind when we die will not berate themselves with questions they wish they’d asked us when we were alive.
Aging, tilting, relic we may be becoming, but we have stories to tell! Let’s tell them!
Photo and Text © June Maffin www.soulistry.com/blog
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—
by June | Aug 18, 2016 | Blogposts
How would you describe your philosophy of life?
I believe that we come into this world to learn, to do our part in making this world a better place through our actions, words and thoughts of lovingkindness and to create, play and celebrate life And then, I believe we move on to the next learning.
Sadly, some of us “move on” too soon. For far too many, it’s due to the dreaded “C” word: cancer.
If you know someone who fought a battle against cancer and died, I invite you to look beyond the view of this photo and envision them with hope in your heart that they are now “beyond” and at peace.
May the day come soon when there is no longer a “Cancer-Anything” day other than to celebrate its cure!
<Remembering beloved husband, Hans van der Werff, two-time cancer survivor and who on the third cancer diagnosis go-round died on June 26, 2016. May he and all who are no longer with us in person, but will always be with us in our heart and memories, rest in peace.>
© June Maffin
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