Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Thank you

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported this blog by accessing it, telling your friends about it, and through your presence, prayers and inspiration. I am taking a sabbatical to pursue my interest photography, a paying-attention-to God in the world. It's possible this blogspot may evolve into a different expression of life. I will let you know! With love, Marcia

Monday, April 6, 2009

On Humility

Humility is the Heimlich maneuver for biting off more than I can chew...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

An Indian farmer carries cucumbers to market.

Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP


Saturday, April 4, 2009




Aztec dancers pose during a ceremony celebrating the birth of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor, in Ixcateopan, Mexico.
Eduardo Verdugo/AP



Friday, April 3, 2009

Two golden retrievers wrestle in the mud, Columbia, NJ.

photo: MKBilyk


Thursday, April 2, 2009

Sunset over a jetty in Turkey.
Alpur Cukur/Sony World Photography Awards

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

On guilt

When personal guilt in relation to a past event becomes a continuous cloud over your life, then you are locked in a mental prison. You have become your own jailer...It is such a great moment of liberation when you learn to forgive yourself, let the burden go and walk out into a new path of promise and possibility. Self-compassion is a wonderful gift to give yourself...Your soul is more immense than any one moment or event in your past. When you allow guilt to fetter and reduce you like this, it has little to do with guilt. The guilt is only an uncomfortable but convenient excuse for your fear of growth.

- from eternal echoes by John O'Donohue

Tuesday, March 31, 2009



Parrots at a zoo in Nanjing, China.
REUTERS

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sri Rosyati (R) and Sri Irianingsih (L), walk to the school they have run in a Jakarta slum area since 1996. The twins, from a typical middle-class background in Jakarta, have been the driving force behind the free education of more than 2,000 poor children. They have purchased the uniforms, textbooks, school equipment and everything else needed to teach the children. The twins have also helped open similar schools in 64 areas of the country.
REUTERS/Beawiharta

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Muslim boys rest their heads on their desks during a language class at Al-Haramain madrassa at the Islamic Complex in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.

Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Sudanese refugee children press up against a fence in a refugee camp in Chad.
Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty
Every time we think we have touched a place of poverty, we will discover greater poverty beyond that place. Beyond physical poverty, there is mental poverty, beyond mental poverty, there is spiritual poverty, and beyond that there is nothing, nothing but mercy. - Henry Nouwen

Friday, March 27, 2009

A woman walks past merchandise on display at Mattel's
House of Barbie flagship store in Shanghai.

Aly Song/REUTERS

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Daffodils in Parliament Square, London, as warm weather continues.
Stefan Rousseau/PA

Love

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Do not just come to our understanding, but enter our hearts -- our passions, emotions, and feelings -- and reveal your presence to us in our inmost being. Otherwise, we will keep clinging to people, things or events to find some warmth, some sense of belonging.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Compassion

There is much hidden suffering in the world: the suffering of a man who dwells with others in a room of metal cages; the suffering of a teenager who does not feel secure; the suffering of countless people who lack caring friends, satisfying work, a peaceful home, a safe neighborhood, clean water, adequate food; the suffering of millions who feel lonely and wonder if life is worth living.
Once we look downward - instead of upward - on the ladder of life, we see the pain of people wherever we go, and we hear the call of compassion wherever we are.

adapted from Henri Nouwen


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Joy

Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing - sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death - can take that love away.

Patterns XXXVIII

Laundry hanging outside a student dormitory in Wuhan, China.

Reuters

Monday, March 23, 2009

A worker sorts timber in Russia during temperatures of minus 25 degrees celsius (-13 F).

Ilya Naymushin/Reuters


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Patterns XXXVII

Thousands of old taxis abandoned in a scrapyard, Chongqing, China.
AFP/Getty

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Homeless tent city in California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty

Friday, March 20, 2009

Rawalpindi, Pakistan: A family travelling by motorbike.

Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Patterns XXXVI

Beijing, China: Ushers look under the tables after delegates leave the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Giving = Happiness = Giving

A survey of 30,000 American households found that those who gave to charity were 43 percent more likely to say they were "very happy" about their lives than those who did not give. The survey doesn't show whether giving made people happy, or happy people were more likely to give, but the anecdotal evidence is strong that many people find that when they begin to give, they free themselves from the acquisitive treadmill and find new meaning and fulfillment in their lives.

Peter Singer, Newsweek, 3/09/09

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A young Buddhist monk participates in a prayer for peace, prosperity and long life at the Ka-Nying Shedrup Ling monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

Monday, March 16, 2009

Patterns XXXV

Workers on tractors harvest soybeans in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Photograph: Maurilio Cheli/AP

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Patterns XXIV

A girl walks up stairs at the CeBIT computer fair, Hanover, Germany.

Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Children of sex workers take part in a rally ahead of International Sex Workers Day, Kolkata, India.

Parth Sanyal/Reuters

Friday, March 13, 2009

Patterns XXXIII

A skier carves out a new path in deep snow on a Black Forest hill, St Märgen, Germany.

Winfried Rothermel/AP


Thursday, March 12, 2009


Runner-up, XII International Humanitarian Photographic Award "Medicos del Mundo": A man burns incense while sitting in a small cage in Hong Kong's Tai Kok Tsui district.
REUTERS/Victor Fraile

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Buddhist monks take part in religious exercises at a monastery near Tongren, in China’s Qinghai province, on the eve of the traditional Tibetan new year.
Reinhard Krause/Reuters

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Patterns XXXII

Job seekers holding umbrellas flock into a job fair in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Ow, that hurts!

An ascetic Buddhist monk runs through flames during the Nagatoro (Japan) fire festival, held to celebrate the coming of spring.
Photograph: Toru Hanai/Reuters

Sunday, March 8, 2009


A drawer of antique glass eyes is displayed at the Science Museum's Object Store in London.
Macdiarmid/Getty

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Patterns XXXI

Men walk their bikes on a bridge during an annual 'car free' day in Bogota, Columbia.
Luis Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images

Friday, March 6, 2009

A jellyfish is irradiated with coloured light at the Blue Zoo in Beijing, a £18 million joint venture between China and New Zealand.

Diego Azubel/EPA

Thursday, March 5, 2009


Hua Chi, a Chinese monk, has prayed on the same spot at a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province, so long that his footprints are embedded in the floor.
Reuters

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Patterns XXX

A woman walks the snow covered path along the National Mall in Washington March 2, 2009.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Filipino street children sleep in rows of large drainage pipes in the port city of Zamboanga, southern Philippines.
REUTERS/Stringer

Monday, March 2, 2009

Patterns XXIX

Iron ore piles at Parker Point, Dampier, Western Australia.

Christian Sprogoe /Rio Tinto Ltd/EPA

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Members of The United States Marine Band listen as musician Stevie Wonder performs during a ceremony honoring him, for the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize, at the White House, February 25.

REUTERS/Jim Young

Saturday, February 28, 2009

A child gets a haircut on a street in Hefei, Anhui province. It is believed to bring luck when one gets a haircut during the second day of the second Chinese lunar month, which is February 26.
REUTERS/Jianan Yu

Friday, February 27, 2009

Large chunks of ice form on Lake Superior, close to the beach at Park Point in Duluth, Minnesota.
Bob King/AP

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Patterns XXVIII

Swimmers prepare to participate in the opening ceremony of the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in London January 24, 2009.

REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A man pans for gold on a riverside in Iga Barriere, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Patterns XXVII


Long lines form for a government job fair at the Atlanta Federal Centre.
Rich Addicks/AP

Monday, February 23, 2009

Worshipers carry a boat containing offerings for Iemanja, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea, at Ramirez beach in Montevideo. Every year sweets, perfumes, fruits and imitation jewellery are offered to the Goddess.

REUTERS/Andres Stapff

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Patterns XXVI

Chairs lined up before the Marc Jacobs Fall 2009 collection, New York Fashion Week, February 16, 2009.

REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Saturday, February 21, 2009

A money changer poses for a portrait on a street corner in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Finbarr O’Reilly/REU

Friday, February 20, 2009

Patterns XXV


A worker puts finishing touches to masks made in the likeness of President Barack Obama at a costume factory assembly line in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. A total of 12,000 Obama masks will be made for the upcoming 'Brazil Carnaval' festival from February 20 to 22.
REUTERS/Bruno Domingos

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A woman and her daughter carry sacks of mud in order to make pottery in Chinautla, Guatemala.
Eitan Abramovich/AFP

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Happy Birthday, Parker!


Parker celebrated his 5th birthday on Sunday with his year-old golden friends, Oscar and McKaley. He hid under the table while they played.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Space junkies

This computer-generated image, released by the European Space Agency, illlustrates the 12,000 objects in orbit around the Earth.

ESA/AFP/Getty Images

Monday, February 16, 2009

Worshippers light candles in jars of honey during a holy mass for St. Haralambos' Day in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. St. Haralambos is a martyr and miracle-worker in the Greek Orthodox tradition.

Vassil Donev/EPA