From Winter’s End by Richard Wilbur:
“Now winter downs the dying of the year;
And night is all a settlement of snow;
From the soft street the rooms of houses show
A gathered light, a shapen atmosphere,
Like frozen-over lakes whose ice is thin
And still allows some stirring down within.”
From the soft street the rooms of houses show
A gathered light, a shapen atmosphere,
Like frozen-over lakes whose ice is thin
And still allows some stirring down within.”
Witnessing the wonders of God’s creation at Walden Pond and listening for the Spirit in the wind, in the silence, and in the words of fellow travelers continues to bless WCUC Walkers. The wisdom from someone as old as Thoreau and as young as Tucker, one walker’s 8 year old grandson, (and from all of us in between!), has touched our hearts and minds in ways that are quite refreshing and inspiring!
Newcomers are always welcome! Join us on Mondays @ 9:30am.
Wisdom from Tucker’s speech:
Stand Strong for Peace and Love
“Hatred is a weapon that some people use but there are strategies we can try to help spread love and kindness. I want world leaders to remember the destruction of racism, exclusion, and violence and dedicate their goals to stopping such harmful actions. Maybe they can learn from us how to treat each other.
A mean word may not feel as bad in the moment as a punch, but a cruel word can get stuck in your heart and make you feel sad. A harmful word is a kick ready to go into action from the inside. Kindness can be a blanket of comfort. Love is a powerful thing. When people love one another mean words are put into cages. Harmful words can be like germs. But kind words are always the medicine.
I am trying to spread peace and love. Please join me.”
Wisdom from Henry David Thoreau:
“In 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved to a cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, MA to learn to live more ‘deliberately’ – away from the crush of random chatter. But the cabin furniture he chose to secure that ambition suggests to simple ‘retreat’. He said that in his cabin there were ‘three chairs – one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society’.” from Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
Going to Walden by Mary Oliver
It isn’t very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!
Many have gone, and think me half a fool
To miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.