Obligation

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.... [Sermon on the Mount, KJV]

(Cropped, with endless iPhoto Effects fiddling.)

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Don't ask - even Catholics can't explain it. Even Catholic priests can't explain it.

It's a Holy Day of Obligation, which means you're supposed to go to mass even though it's the middle of the week.

I'm not going.
Today is a holy day of obligation to myself.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace." [NIV]

I tried to show in this crowded frame the pressures I feel - novel to be written, appointments to be kept, doctor's orders to be followed, chores to be done....

I tried to show hope in that last lily bud just opening and perfuming the air. The lily is from Maranatha church, where I went to t'ai chi for the first time on Tuesday. Will I go again tonight? Only if it seems the best fulfillment of my obligation to myself.

Peace, peace, but there is no peace. Hopefully by day's end there will be.
As the Book of Proverbs says, "A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh...."

CALM: DDW August challenge

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Sorry sorry sorry not to be commenting more.
This is why. First things first.
Regretfully, I can only promise more of the same. There may be weeks of this!
I am following your blogs day by day in odd moments when I can.
Consider me a silent admirer.