by ingrid on November 24, 2009
“Such blessings we receive,
such gifts of grace.
If we have wandered from the path of gladness,
point us back to life!”
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
Happy Thanksgiving to all. As is my habit, here are some excerpts from my book, Simple Graces for Every Meal. I penned these graces in hopes that they would be comfortable and inspiring in all kinds of company. Joy to you this holiday season, Ingrid
in the sweetness of this hour
with full and thankful hearts;
thoughtful and generous minds.
~
We are gathered together
in a circle of plenty,
a circle of love, and a circle of light.
With peaceful hearts, we welcome each other.
With grateful hearts, we give thanks.
~
With joy and reverence we give thanks
for the wondrous power of growing things,
and for the sustenance our lives receive
from the beauty of the earth
and the fellowship of all beings.
~
Life that gives us life, we thank you.
To all who live on Martha’s Vineyard: The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven has honored me with a lovely display. I am very grateful to have a year round outlet for my work there. I’ll also be at the Artisan’s Fair on Friday and Saturday this week, so please come! And my work is available at the Holiday Cooperative Shop on Main Street in Vineyard Haven (near Leslie’s).
by ingrid on July 18, 2009
It was a moment I can only describe as grace. Yesterday, after I had finished my accounting, glued some House Blessings, and surveyed my long list for the next task to accomplish, I took boxes out onto the lawn to paint gold for 100 Fortunes. Having done that, I looked up. Bees were busily feasting in the lavender, a gentle breeze was moving through the trees, a woodpecker was tapping in the oaks, and I heard my inner voice declare, “enough.”
I stood up to take in all that I have been missing, my mind on other things.
The other day, Ivan Granger included this thought in a Poetry Chaikhana mailing:
What we call the ego
is the individual’s particular way
of not being fully present.
Isn’t that well said?
In my book, The Abundance of Grace, I wrote,
Grace is often found in surrendering our plans,
letting go the need for perfection,
giving up impossible ideals,
and humbling ourselves before the mystery…
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff.
As I declared, “enough”, I was able to let go my list. I humbled myself before the mystery, wandered the garden, taking photos, and marvelling at the beauty all around me. And I am so glad I did! I will post more excerpts on grace next.
by ingrid on July 18, 2009
When exploring Grace for my little book, The Abundance of Grace, I came across many inspiring passages which I interspersed with my own reflections. Here are a few, simply to remind us that every breath is itself a grace.
Grace is the door
to the peace beyond the mind.
~Rumi
Grace is unity,
oneness with ourselves,
oneness with God.
-Thomas Merton
Grace, brothers,
makes no conditions and singles out
none of us in particular;
grace takes us all to its bosom
and proclaims general amnesty.
~Isaak Dineson
Grace waits nearby
to flood the heart with light.
It is up to us to
open the heart’s windows,
unlock the door,
and make an altar there for the spirit…
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
For more selections from the book, here is a link to an article of excerpts called Reflections on Grace.
by ingrid on June 3, 2009
To wander on Wednesdays;
To sit quietly
by the shoreline of stillness;
To drop my mind down
below the surface chatter -
The radio waves of thought
and their compulsive agitations:
The insult channel; the gossip channel;
the channel of panic and confusion.
To drop down into the
deep quiet from which
all wisdom comes.
To rest in awareness
of all that is here.
I do not long for more projects
or lists,
No more doing
or ideas for doing.
I only want this.
This.
The holy embrace of the day.
~Ingrid
(Special thanks to my dear friend Lori, who helped me take out my schedule and block out this time. Tell me friends, how do you make time and space for stillness, contentment, for belonging and for love?)
~
by ingrid on May 19, 2009
Lately I have been asking myself, “to live quietly, and in love - is that enough?” I think, for me, that it may be. The more I settle into living quietly and in love, and determine that indeed it is enough- the more happy, content, peaceful I feel. Living quietly and in love I may be a poet, wife, mother, artist, lover of the spiritual life, gardener, tinkerer, sheet changer, dish washer, errander, generous friend - “Living quietly and in Love” seems to create an envelope of grace around all I do, feel, and am throughout the day. It is like finding permission to breathe, and to give one’s heart to every moment. - less striving, less argument.
This morning I caught the fragrance of the lilacs while taking out the compost to the bin- lilacs we dreamed and planted years ago which are finally blooming now. On Saturday Jonah and I transplanted the strawberries, and I imagined Bella enjoying their sweetness. As we survey our fruit trees, we see that there will be pears and apricots in addition to the apples, raspberries, and peaches.
All that we have planted is growing, stretching down roots into the soil, branches reaching up to the sky, drawing the heavens down…
by ingrid on April 8, 2009
Today I am rejoicing in fragrance. In the studio, lilies fill the air with heady sweetness. In the kitchen, the orange tree is in bloom, and the jasmine. Last night, my nose stayed awake to the fragrance of Easter Lilies.
The other day my daughter Rose flitted from Easter Lily to Orange blossoms , expressing giddy intoxication and delight and fullness and joy. She swept up her skirt and did a little dance. “Who needs drugs with natural intoxicants like these?” she asked. I jumped at the chance to mention that God, too, is an intoxicant. Today I am lightheaded, each breath a kind of bliss. This is from the fragrance, I know, but also from a beautiful walk I had this morning.
There were ominous clouds ahead, but I headed out anyway. I have been been savoring these words of Saint Teresa of Avila, “Just these two words He spoke changed my life, ‘Enjoy Me.’” And I have been sensing of late that there is nowhere that God is not. God is in the fragrance of the flowers, in the Stone beneath the Holly Tree that invited me to pause for stillness- to rest in a pocket of eternity. God is in the Cypress tree that stands bold like a flame in the field nearby. God is in the water, the cakes, the young woman I meet at the cafe. I believe that Teresa of Avila also said that prayer was being on terms of friendship with God. I have been feeling this friendship of late- with God, with life, and also with myself. The Buddhist Teacher Pema Chodron teaches that Maitri is being a friend to yourself; being able to relax with yourself, and that it is the basis of compassion, and a seed of happiness and well being. This week I am feeling that.
(If the word ‘God’ is troubling for you, I hope you can find it in your heart to substitute a deeper meaning: Infinite Love, The Divine, Spirit, The Energy of Life. Sometimes I use the words Friend, Beloved, even Home. Try as I may, I always come back to God.)
I hope you, dear friends, are enjoying such friendship as well: with Life, with yourself, with those you meet. And I wish you every Joy in the coming days.
by ingrid on March 16, 2009
God spoke today in flowers,
and I, who was waiting on words,
almost missed the conversation.
~Ingrid G0ff-Maidoff
by ingrid on March 11, 2009
Wherever you are, find a trail.
The sky is not falling for the cedar tree.
The Heron’s infinite blue world has not changed.
The marsh shows no signs
of Wall Street volatility.
Trees and grasses
are golden with the sun.
The ocean and sky still join
like lovers
here, now, and
on the horizon too.
The swan, content,
faces a gentle breeze.
The cormorant dives, resurfaces,
belly once again filled.
Follow that trail.
Find the bench, or stone
that waits for you there.
We must learn to walk away sometimes
from the carnival of the world
to sit still and remember
what it is that holds us;
what, in us, is held.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
(pictures are from the Nauset Marsh Trail in Eastham, MA near Brewster, where I went on retreat this weekend.)
by ingrid on March 9, 2009
“I’m nobody. Are you? Are you nobody too?” asks Emily Dickinson in one of her poems. “Oh, yes!” I say, relaxing into oneness. Have I gone off the deep end? I hope so! Off the deep end and into the Ocean of Belonging. I’ve been thinking a lot about the ocean as a metaphor for all that holds us. I’ve been relaxing into seeing myself as nothing more or less than a drop in that ocean. I am in this ocean, and it is in me. And so are you. We are all drops in this ocean. It is the ocean of oneness /love /God /belonging. In this ocean we are all equally held. Nobody needs to be more special or shiny than the other. We just are. (Don’t tell Barney the big purple dinosaur.) Lately I’ve been enjoying my drop-in-the-oceanness. I’ve been enjoying my smallness.
Grace
Slips in ~
Sunrise,
Lightness,
A cleansing wave ~
When I
Remember
I am
Held.
On the off chance that you would find this thought healing, I offer it to you: We are drops in the ocean, and we are enough. In her poem, Emily goes on to talk about frogs making a lot of noise in a bog. Sometimes I think the pressure of having a presence on the web, of needing to let people know who I am and what I do feels a bit like the noisy frogs. Today I just want to say, “I’m nobody. Are you? Are you nobody too?”
by ingrid on January 30, 2009
When Winter drains the summer from our lawn,
my eye turns to within the house, seeking the cheer of color and light.
Here a geranium leans into the sun…
I supplement with candle light, party streamers & store-bought bouquets….
and I am thankful for the color on the walls….
