Space To Grow - Missoula, Montana

"Rilke wrote: 'These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased." - Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) The Poetics Of Space

They're moving about - and moving a whole lotta eyeglasses - in Sri Lanka; see the updates at JourneysWithGod.com .

Hoping Forward - Missoula, Montana

"I leant upon a coppice gate 

      When Frost was spectre-grey, 

And Winter's dregs made desolate 

      The weakening eye of day. 

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky 

      Like strings of broken lyres, 

And all mankind that haunted nigh 

      Had sought their household fires...

...The ancient pulse of germ and birth 

      Was shrunken hard and dry, 

And every spirit upon earth 

      Seemed fervourless as I. 

At once a voice arose among 

      The bleak twigs overhead 

In a full-hearted evensong 

      Of joy illimited; 

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, 

      In blast-beruffled plume, 

Had chosen thus to fling his soul 

      Upon the growing gloom. 

So little cause for carolings 

      Of such ecstatic sound 

Was written on terrestrial things 

      Afar or nigh around, 

That I could think there trembled through 

      His happy good-night air 

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew 

      And I was unaware. " 

- from The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Snug Meadow - Missoula, Montana

"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about..." - Alice in Lewis Carroll's Through The  Looking Glass, p. 142

(Yes, observant reader, I've used this quote before; but you must admit it's worthy of repeat!)

The Sri Lanka crew will be cycling around into another set of eye clinics; see the latest update at JourneysWithGod.com .

Faith Toward Spring - Missoula, Montana

"Where there is no truth, there can be no faith." - George MacDonald (1824-1905), The Princess and Curdie

Catch a glimpse of true faith in action in the warmer climes of Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .

Cloudy With A Chance Of Wisdom - Missoula, Montana

"Thirty-nine years of my life had passed before I understood that clouds were not my enemy; that they were beautiful, and that I needed them. I suppose this, for me, marked the beginning of wisdom. Life is short." - Iimani David

See what wise workings are occurring with the Sri Lanka team at JourneysWithGod.com .

Fresh Perspective - Missoula, Montana

"The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only." - Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)

Being a lover of little things, I was delighted to spy the pictured miniature winter forest - in reality, a stand of mid-calf height weeds transformed by fresh snowfall a few weeks back. As a sometime gardener, I typically wouldn't be pleased about weeds, especially en masse. But a fresh perspective will often reach beyond our prejudices. (Not a bad thought for pondering on the bonus day of a leap year.)

See how the Sri Lanka team has been handing out new views at JourneysWithGod.com .

Transforming - Missoula, Montana

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? - J.B. Priestly (1894-1984)

Take a peek at the difference being made in lives in Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .