happy – Blisswood

Autumnal Prayer

Image by Joe from Pixabay

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. ~ Psalm 90:14

November 27/14

Tomorrow we begin our spiritual pilgrimage into the Advent season… to contemplate the upcoming Great Feast of Christ’s Incarnation.

Just like Great Lent is before Easter/Pascha, the ancient Nativity Fast is a reflective, joyful time for spiritual preparation – nourished with prayer, love of one’s neighbour, and generous almsgiving.

Each fast is fresh, new, and a collective reminder to shift focus away from oneself, and onto the needs of others, instead.

Together we’ll begin the late autumnal journey with sweeping the dried leaves and debris away from body and soul.

We fast before we feast, and the feasting aspect is saved to start on the actual Nativity Feast Day itself, including the following bright “12 days of Christmastide”.

May your Nativity Fast be peaceful and fruitful!

With love in Christ.

A Sunrise Blessing

Dayspring on Kauai – 2023

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. ~ Numbers 6:24-26

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24

May your day be filled with prayer, peace, and love.

That Still Small Voice Actually Shouts

Image by Maria Saveleva from Pixabay

Do not treat your conscience with contempt; for it always advises you to do what’s best. It sets before you the will of God and the angels; it frees you from secret defilements of the heart; and when you depart from this life it grants you the gift of intimacy with God. ~ St. Maximos the Confessor

Always be guided by your heart rather than by your head, and your life will be transformed. Happiness does not consist in living in a palace or enjoying a large fortune; these can be lost. True happiness is something that neither men nor events can take from you. You will find it in Faith, in Hope and in Charity. Try to make those around you happy, and you will be happy yourself. ~ Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

From the Letters of Grand Duchess St. Elizabeth (Granddaughter of Queen Victoria)

Happy Saint’s Day to my parish friends Elizabeth, both named after this amazing Saint! May God grant you many years!

With Expectant Hope

Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade by Stevan Aksentijevic from Pixabay

With expectant hope,
Come – gentle, quiet, New Year,
With Peace from Above!

Beneath the blue veil
Of night, wisdom traverses
By Star, to Wisdom.

Patiently we wait.
Six silent nights remaining –
Until the manger.

Thank you for visiting Blisswood.

Happy Civil New Year! Happy New You! Happy New Us!

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. ~ Numbers 6:24-26

As we draw nigh unto the Bright Feast of Christ’s Holy Nativity, may we seek and find the True, Healing Peace from Above, within the Bethlehem of our hearts.

With Love in Christ.

In the Joy of His Creatures

A Harris Hawk, seeking her food from God.

Greetings on the Feast of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon! To this very day, and through his holy prayers and healings, he’s been very helpful with family and friends!

When God, who is absolute fullness, brought creatures into existence, it was not done to fulfill any need but so that his creatures should be happy to share his likeness, and so that he himself might rejoice in the joy of his creatures as they draw inexhaustibly upon the Inexhaustible. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor

He will cover you under his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. ~ Psalm 91:4

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? … St. Matthew 6: 25-34

My rejoicing heart has taken flight!

One of my most favourite birds in the world – a falcon, flew to – and landed on my gloved arm (several times)!

My wonder-cup brims and runneth over with spiritual delight and gratitude to God – for allowing me the honour and privilege of interacting with these wild and majestic creatures… A day I’ll always treasure and remember.

Thank you God, for your Gift of Nature!

Begin With Thanksgiving

Image by ElenaOlesik from Pixabay

We must begin with thanksgiving for everything.
The beginning of joy is to be content with your situation.
~ St. Ambrose of Optina

And Ascended Into the Heavens…

Icon of The Ascension of our Lord was written by a parish founder, of eternal memory

Christ has Ascended!

From Earth to Heaven, in Glory!

Some Ascension Day Traditions

…And on the third day He arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the Heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father...~ The Creed

Today is the fulfillment of Pascha, and the joyful revelation of our destiny in Christ. On the fortieth day after His glorious Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven to be glorified on the right hand of God ~ Acts 1:9-11; Mark 16:19

… and lifting his hands he blessed them. While blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ~ Luke 24:51-52

Happy Ascension Day of our Lord… and there’s more jubilation coming! Ten days from now is the Great Feast of Pentecost!

How beautiful is the Mystery of Today. And Everyday.

Happiness is Found Within Ourselves

Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God. Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts: “I will visit them, and will walk in them, and I will be a God to them, and they will be my people.” (II Cor. 6:16) What can be lacking to them? Nothing, nothing at all! For they have the greatest good in their hearts: God Himself! ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

… the human heart, along with the mind, is an organ of knowledge. And the knowledge of the heart is higher than the knowledge of the mind. ~ St. Luke of Crimea

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. ~ Psalm 51:10

Happy New You!

Image by jplenio from Pixabay

“Happy New You” is what my grandchild used to chirp joyfully to others on New Year’s Day!

Children have such a way with words!

Standing on the threshold of another New Year, I’d like to share these precious pictures from my friend Irena – regarding a school’s “Random Prayers Bulletin Board”.

Thank you dear children who wrote those beautiful, wise words that tug the heartstrings!

May God indeed help us “be more jentle towards others” and to become New You’s – by sharing His Truth and Beauty.

Let us be as little children thanking our Heavenly Father – for all our blessings! For everything He has ever given us… and to say plainly, and simply to Him, “I love you so much. Amen.”

Beauty calls to each of us, and sometimes we find truth and beauty where and when we least expect it.

May you have a most blessed, beautiful, and fruitful New Year!

Happy New You!

Happy New Us!

Christians Love One Another

Floral Petal Confetti on Marble Mosaic Floor

…They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If a man has something, he gives freely to the man who has nothing. If they see a stranger, Christians take him home and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit of God. And if they hear that one of them is in jail, or persecuted for professing the name of their redeemer, they all give him what he needs. If it is possible, they bail him out. If one of them is poor and there isn’t enough food to go around, they fast for several days to give him the food he needs. This is really a new kind of person. There is something divine in them… ~ Excerpt from Section XV , The Apology of St. Aristides from around the year 125, when Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) visited Athens, and was seeking justification to outlaw Christianity

Christian Love St. Matthew 22:37-39; St. John 13:34; St. John 13:35; St. John 15:12; St. John 15:17; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11