We are all untidy pilgrims.

Our daily actions,
reactions,
interactions,
infractions,
distractions,
retractions,
and inaction
all mess up
our desire for order, control, compartmentalisation, tidiness, satisfaction.

But LOVE doesn't care,
doesn't desire order or tidiness.
LOVE wants to embrace us, mess and all.

May we be blessed as we continue our pilgrimage into the arms of LOVE.

Knowing I am loved can change my attitude.

Dag Hamarskjold wrote,
"To everything that has been - thanks.
For everything that will be - yes."

May my attitude become one of gratitude ...
for what has been and how it has shaped the person I am right now,
and for what will be, that I will always open to receive LOVE'S blessings.

May our attitude bring grace and blessings to others.
May our attitude deepen our relationship with LOVE.

What or who or where is the origin of love?
Why do we not feel whole or holy or human until we
love our neighbour
love our self
love God?

May LOVE inhabit our questions and our search.

I will encounter divine love today -
    in an infinite number of guises -
        an act
        a word
        a sound
        a smile
        a gesture
        a ritual
        an aroma
        a vista
        a farewell
        a welcome
        an invitation
        an acceptance
        a reconciliation
        silence.

Will I recognise this divine presence -
    embrace it?
    welcome it?
    take on its nature?

Or will I ignore this divine presence -
    hurry past?
    choose another?
    forget?
    make excuses?

We will encounter LOVE today.
Let's open our hearts and our minds to receive LOVE'S grace and blessings.

Today is a day of preparation -
    carnivale;
    Pancake Tuesday;
    burning of the old year's palms until only ashes remain.

Today is a day of preparation -
    considering the journey ahead;
    setting aside frivolity;
    creating a silent space, a sacred space.

Today is a day of preparation -
    to renew friendship with the divine;
    to encounter the divine in creation;
    to recognise the divine in another.

May the divine inhabit your preparations.
May the divine shape your preparations.
May the divine bless your preparations.

“So don't  be frightened,
dear friend,
if a  sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known,
casting its shadow  over all you do.
You must think that something is happening within you,
and  remember that life has not forgotten you;
it holds  you in its hand and will not let you fall.
Why would you want to exclude from  your life any uneasiness,
any  pain,
any depression,
since you don't know what  work they are accomplishing  within you?"

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

May you encounter grace within.