“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is too dear to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), Unitarian minister, essayist and philosopher, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

Image: Brunfelsia calycina, common name: yesterday-today-tomorrow

“Trees are living symbols of peace and hope. A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance. It is a reminder to all of us who have had success that we cannot forget where we came from. It signifies that no matter how powerful we become in government or how many awards we receive, our power and strength and our ability to reach our goals depend on the people, those whose work remain unseen, who are the soil out of which we grow, the shoulders on which we stand.”

Wangari Maathi (1940 – 2011), environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, born on this day

“Gentleness is often mistaken for weakness, but in truth, it is a profound strength.
To be gentle in a world that can be harsh takes courage.
Gentleness is the soft hand that soothes in moments of distress, the calm voice that brings peace in the midst of chaos, and the open heart that chooses kindness over anger.
True gentleness begins within.
It’s about being kind to yourself, nurturing your own spirit, and approaching your life with a sense of grace. When you carry gentleness in your heart, you bring a quiet strength into every situation.
You move through the world with a soft power that can heal, uplift, and inspire.
Remember, gentleness doesn’t mean avoiding challenges or standing down in the face of difficulty. It means facing them with compassion, both for yourself and others.
It’s about choosing patience over frustration, understanding over judgment, and love over fear.
Be gentle with yourself.
Be gentle with others.
In that gentleness, you will find strength, resilience, and the power to create a world filled with light and peace.”

Han Suyin, writer (1916 – 2012)

“Blessed are we who seek to know the whole
of who we are:
The gifts The limits
The light The shadows
The strengths The weaknesses
The saint The sinner

Who know, accept and seek to live in truth,
Who readily say ‘I’m sorry’ and learn from mistakes,
Who seek the good for all creatures
in the finitude of possibility.

For the weight of harm caused
bears down heavily.
The heart so burdened
cannot sing.
Strength is sapped,
the will paralysed.

Only truth sets us free,
truth and forgiveness,
the deep and gentle acceptance of condition,
the slate wipen clean
to permit love to be writ anew.

Let all burdened seek truth and freedom,
attend to the consequences of choices,
extend and accept the balm of forgiveness,
and face into the future with hope.
Love is come again.

In the depths of silence
and the words of the wise,
our hearts are instructed.
This is the invitation; heed it well.
For torment need not be our lot.
Trust in steadfast love
and the power that moves in all things
to give life.

Be glad and rejoice.
Love is come again,
And again,
Forever.”

Psalm 32 Redux by Carla Grosch-Miller

“Birds and another animals begin to choose their mates as the growing year burgeons strongly in the strengthening sunlight. The green fire that runs over all the earth is sparked by this very sunlight and the deep germinating power of the earth. When plants reach toward the chlorophyll pigment within each leaf so that it reflects green. This pigment alters as the year progresses, causing the leaves to change colour, but from this time forward a medley of greens is apparent.

This green fire is also within us – not in our physical bodies, as it is in plants, but in our emotional and creative lives. Spring fever has many manifestations, some almost hormonal. The creative urge of spring brings into being much verse, for example, as our emotional upheavals reach out for fresh life and vigour..

Where is the green fire in your own life at this time? Take your emotional and creative temperature; then give yourself over to something pleasurable and enlivening this week.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“Choice is your greatest power. It is an even greater power than love, because you must first choose to be a loving person.”

Caroline Myss

“The world speaks to me in colours, my soul answers in music.”

Rabindranath Tagore

“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”

Robert Frost (1874 – 1963), poet, born on this day

“There is another game of hide-and-seek that the Great Mother plays. This is more like a fairy story. She hides sometimes in other people. She hides in anything. Any day you might see Her eyes, just looking into mother’s, or playing with a kitten, or picking up a bird that had fallen from its nest. Under all these forms you may find God playing at hide-and-seek!
When there is something to do for someone–Kali is calling us to play. We lave that play. She Herself said once (She was hiding in someone, and He said it for Her). “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, My little ones, ye did it unto Me.” Is not that like a fairy story! And what funny places She, the Great Mother, can hide in! Another time She said ” Lift the stone, and thou shalt find Me. Cleave the wood, and there am I!” Did you ever lift a stone or break a piece of wood to see what was inside? Did you ever think that was God–at the heart of things? How beautifully Kali plays! You might find Her anywhere!”

From The Story of Kali by Sister Nivedita (born Margaret Noble), first western woman received into an Indian monastic order (by Swami Vivekananda), on this day in 1898

International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims (created in honour of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered on this day in 1980)

““You can tell the people that if they proceed in killing me, that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully, they will realize that they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the church of God, which is the people will never perish.

The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being a defender of the rights of the poor, or a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society … that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history.

When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.”

Archbishop Oscar Romero

Romero predicted his own murder, for this speech was given shortly before he was shot down while celebrating the liturgy. Around the same time, he wrote the American president begging him to cease providing money for the Salvadorian military, which was making war on the country’s citizens. He stood for those with very little voice. He understood the church “is the people,” more than it is structure or hierarchy. He walked his talk and paid the price of martyrdom. Do we continue to take courage from his example?”

From Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox