July...

Where to begin?

You are never my favorite month

only because you bring with you

the hot emotions of summer

and even warmer nights

You bring with you the season when we

 shuttle down to the basement

looking for relief

from your scorching ways

hiding away from your "pressing in". 

My Irish/English blood does not do so well

never has.

But I have learned to sink into your heat

into your refinement...

into the way you bring things to the surface

things that need to be burnt away

You teach me to take one day at a time

moving slowly in mindfulness

Keeping my cool

as not to ignite the furnace

prematurely.

And the truth is

I have to be fair

because

 even as I feel I am in  the fiery furnace

You offer refuge in those I love.

Much time this month

was spent with some very

cool cats

People I really really like

People I really really love

It helped

ease the heat

it help take my mind off the discomfort

And like a flower

I felt myself blossom

despite it all...

or is it

because of it all?

I acknowledge and pulled out the weeds
around me
leaving those that needed to be left
those that needed to come into full bloom
and dug deep 
to remove those that needed to be gone
And through that process
realized the beauty of my own heart garden
weeds or not
there was far more 
abundance
then there was not.

Oh, those hot emotions of summer  

mixed with the cool tenderness of Love and Communion.

No you are not my favorite

but I am grateful all the same

for the Challenges

and the Gifts that you brought to me
and my journey

 *

Love and Light