My first rose of the year. After the very wet spring and my extreme chopping of my 7 or so rose bushes, the flowers are finally coming to bloom. Roses are my favorite flower, and these yellow ones are so beautiful. I wanted you to share in my simple joy!

I love this Psalm. It’s been on my mind today, and I felt impressed to share it. Enjoy!

PSALMS 23
A Psalm of David

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I
shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name’s
sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for
thou art with me; thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence
of mine enemies: thou
anointest my head with oil; my
cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of
my life: and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever.

I also love Temple Passmore’s rendition of Psalms 23. You can buy the recorded version here.

We have been working on goal and affirmation statements of late and have had a fair amount of inspiration from this gem from Marianne Williamson’s poem:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”

My husband had rewritten the above poem to make it in the first person with many “I” statements to personalize it. We read it for months. It was working for a while, but it seemed to have a sneaky undermining issue. As we repeated it over and over to ourselves, it reinforced that we were afraid of our own greatness and genius. Using this poem as a spring board, my husband and I rewrote it for our own purposes. Here is our new affirmation statement:

I am powerful beyond measure.
It is God’s light that empowers me.
I am a Child of God and a portion of that light is within me.
I am healthy, brilliant, gorgeous, talented, wealthy, generous, and fabulous.
My playing large is the best way to serve the world.
I shine, as children of God naturally and gracefully do.
I manifest the Glory of God that is within me and I see the Glory of God in everyone.
I let my own light shine and empower others to do the same.
Because I am liberated by knowing who I am, my presence automatically liberates others.

Brandi Palmer

Update 08.01.2011: I have included an audio file here if you would like to listen to it daily.  I’d love to hear your results in using it.

      Peter, my 2 year old son, and Wendy, my 5 year old daughter, were playing with wood blocks this afternoon. Peter hit Wendy on the head with a block pretty hard. Wendy came crying to me, and so did Peter, although I’m not sure why he did.
      I put Peter in time out for hurting his sister and throwing the block. He calmed down to accept his two minutes time, but he was still sad. Wendy came over to give Peter a hug. She then proceeded to talk kindly to him about why he was in time out. She told him that he had hit her on the head with a block and it had hurt her.
      Peter asked, “Do you need ban-daid?”
      “No,” Wendy replied.
      “Do you need meh-sin?” (medicine)
      “No.”
      “Do you need ar-ka?” (arnica)
      “No, I need you to say sorry to me.”
      Peter gave her a hug and she gave him one in return. He said sorry, and she said she forgave him. They stood up and Wendy told me Peter was done with timeout. She frankly forgave him. Wow! I need to take a lesson on forgiveness from her!
      It was the cutest thing ever! I love the friendship and love my children have for each other, even when one of them has been hurt by another. What great lessons we can learn from our children!

What I love about summer…

…eating cold watermelon and watching my kids let it drip down their chins
…all the summer fruits to eat and preserve
…watching the kids run through the sprinklers
…hearing my kids’ squeals of absolute joy
…long summer nights where the sun finally goes down after nine
…watching the plants in my garden thrive
…picking raspberries from my own bushes
…making trips to the library with my kids for books to keep us occupied on really hot days
…my a/c that keeps us cool and comfortable
…day trips with my family to enjoy places outside of home
…walking in my home after being on one of those day trips and lounging around until dinner time
…learning new things with the children and not being on a schedule imposed by others
…holding hands and watching the sun set with my sweetheart
…relaxing under the stars and enjoying a quiet evening after the kids go to bed
…seeing my kids asleep after an exhaustingly fun day and know they’ll be ready for it all again tomorrow