For this week of Advent, the verse we sing at the dinner table while lighting the first candle.
Light the Advent Candle One.
Now the waiting has begun.
We have started on our way;
Time to think of Christmas Day.
Candle, candle, burning bright,
Shining in the cold winter night,
Candle, candle, burning bright,
Fill our hearts with Christmas light.
Brian
While a few weeks of the season still remain to us, a poem for fall, from our family dinner-table verse book.
Anne Clair
God, we thank thee for this food,
For rest, and home, and all things good,
For earth, and rain, and sun above,
But, most of all, for those we love.
Blessings on our meal.
—Traditional
Aunt Marge
Patricia
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Here is a poem (author unknown) from our mealtime verse book, and I post it today in honor of the birthday of my cousin Dianne (which she shares with her twin Monica). Tuesday, October 2nd, marked the one-year anniversary of Dianne’s passing after a lengthy and painful struggle with two rare blood disorders, throughout which she remained, as always, the Merry Lass that her circle of family and friends knew so well and miss so much.
Dianne
Monica
In honor of Robert Louis Stevenson’s birthday, a poem and a picture for fall.
Today is also the anniversary of the release from house arrest of courageous writer and activist Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party, after boycotting last year’s election, this month voted to re-enter Burmese politics. For her mini-bio, please see Free As a Bird.
Martha
A poem for Sunday from our family dinner table verse book. These blessings sound so simple and straightforward yet are so extremely difficult in practice. Each day presents an opportunity to give it another try…
From our family dinner table verse book, a blessing for Sunday.
Camille
From our family verse book. One of my favorite things about mild weather is dining outside. We do it whenever we can, even if it just means downing a bowl of cereal on the front porch while waving to the neighbors heading off on their morning missions. Although I do love a tablecloth, and candles. And I haven’t yet found the right wine for oat flakes.
Eryn
We are seeing the last of the tulips here. (This is a detail from a larger painting.)
There is a garden at the heart of things,
Our oldest memory guards it with her strong will.
Those who by love and work attain there
Bathe in her living waters, lift up their hearts and
Turn again to share the steep privations of the hill;
They walk in the market but their feet are still.
from The Promised Garden, by Theo Dorgan
To begin the work week, a traditional blessing from our homemade family mealtime verse book.
I especially like “Bless the righteous and the thief.” To hold this vision of the world deeply in one’s heart is worth striving for. Ongoing struggle though it may be from day to day. Well, it is for me, anyway.