A SYMPHONY OF COLOURS

I’VE BEEN THINKING A LOT ABOUT HOW WE SEE THINGS BEFORE US.

YOU AND I CAN LOOK AT THE SAME SKY AND SEE VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. YOU MIGHT LOOK AT A CLOUD AND SAY, “THAT CLOUD IS WHITE”. AND I MIGHT LOOK AT THE SAME CLOUD AND SAY, “I SEE VIOLET, PINK, YELLOW AND CERULEAN BLUE.” AND IN FACT, YOU MIGHT NOT EVEN SEE THE CLOUD ITSELF. WE TEND TO LOOK DOWN AND NOT EVEN REALLY ‘LOOK’ . OUR MINDS ARE PREOCCUPIED WITH THE PLANS FOR THE DAY.

THIS SEASON MORE THAN ALL THE OTHERS CAN BE A ‘SYMPHONY OF COLOURS’. WE NEED TO LOOK UP AND AROUND WITH NEW EYES AND SEE THE BEAUTY IN OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD AND IN OUR NEIGHBOURS.

THE POLITICIANS AND QANON WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT CERTAIN FOLKS ARE EVIL. WE ARE BOMBARDED THESE DAYS WITH ‘FAKE NEWS’ AND PEOPLE WHO CLAIM THAT REAL NEWS IS FAKE. WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO THINK IN ONLY BLACK AND WHITE TERMS. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR GREY AREAS AND SOME COLOURS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN OTHERS. UGH!

I THINK APPRECIATING THE BEAUTY GOD CREATED IS A FORM OF PRAYER. CATHERINE DOHERTY WROTE IN THIS EXCERPT FROM “WELCOME PILGRIM” (1991) …

“One day when I was a child in Russia, an old woman, a pilgrim, came to our house. While I served her food in the warm kitchen of our big country house, she talked to me.

She told me about the joy of being a pilgrim, of walking on green grass and stopping to rest at a tree trunk. She said an old tree trunk had so many colours. Did I think a birch tree was white? No, she said, it was’t white. It had black spots all over it. Also, the white of the bark had many shades. One has only to look at it closely to know. And the same with pines and oaks.

Tree barks were a symphony of colour. And the green of the forest, she said, is of a thousand hues. As she was speaking, I could see all that she said actually taking shape before my eyes, for I loved nature, too.

But, she went on to explain, this quality of wonderment, of joy and of appreciation had to be a prayer, because of God. It was God who had created all this beauty. “

MY MUM SAYS THAT SINCE MY DAD STARTED PAINTING HE CONSTANTLY REMARKS ON THE BEAUTY OF THE SKIES . HE NEVER DID THAT BEFORE.

LET’S REALLY TAKE NOTICE OF THE ‘SYMPHONY’ TODAY. LET IT MAKE US SWAY WITH THE GLORIOUS , PERFECT RHYTHM AND HARMONY BEFORE US. LET US ADD OUR OWN PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING. AND LET’S COMMIT THESE AUTUMN COLOURS TO MEMORY BEFORE A NEW, WINTER SET OF COLOURS ARRIVE.

PEACE, FRIENDS.