Time is a line that winds and bends and swirls — vain to try and clutch it.
The heart is a spotted pear — there’s no getting through without some bruising.
The mind is a sea star — able to regenerate its brilliant purple rays, capable of omnidirectional moves, and too often clinging to the same surface.
The soul, at peace, is paradise.
The individual is a phantom — in wonder and blunder, we receive our selves through the eyes of others.
Love is an embattled, radiant thing, with arms that reach for us through the grief-fractured layers of our lives.
Flashes of insight, lit by love, beauty, forgiveness, can rocket your life, then flop down like expired fish. Faith is about remembering those flights.
Grass pierces pavement at its own peril — still, on it grows.
Laughter, at the right moment, restores sanity.
Pack light. Most everything you need you’ll find along the way.
Should you want to find God, which is to say, should you desire meaning, learn to love the earth and her array of inhabitants.
Theology eulogizes the universe; poetry hugs a birch tree.
Theology says I come from the heavens; poetry says I come from Springside, Saskatchewan.
Our favoured certainties should routinely be set on fire to see what rises from the ashes.
Our privilege is also our blindness.
A tincture of cynicism is emancipating, but a full meal is constipating.
Doubt is an apple-a-day, but the spell of skepticism is a hospital cot.
From the crushed grapes of volitional relinquishment, comes the fine wine of spiritual well-being.
Keep pressing your face against your particular gift — a new door will open.
Art enlarges our bearing and being, which is why despots of commerce defund it.
Science and religion are humble in theory, but never when monetized.
An intellectual conviction can be overturned by spiritual experience, but one does not go slagging science.
It may be too late to have an honest conversation with a glacier, but we have to try.
Things reset themselves if they are unplugged for a while, this includes humans.
Wisdom is knowing when to let poison pass through, and when to vomit outright.
To counsel hope at the wrong time, can be malpractice.
Death is hard, hard, hard, and every explanation unfitting.
Adoration is the twin sister of sorrow.
Don’t beat yourself up, worry can be a form of prayer.
The Big Bang is God’s dancing body. The shimmering fallout is yours.
We are bottles in smoke, owls of the wilderness, sparrows of the desert, tracings of the Holy Mystery — on our way home.
Despite the crazed addictions and the pomp of our vanities, our true longing is to be each other’s joy.
Lovers, who are ascending the Everest of life-long commitment, make everything around them stronger.
If we have eyes for it, if we have courage for it, the kingdom of heaven is among us, in unfolding inclusiveness.
There’s always more to be said about peace, love, and harmony, but now, let us lace up our shoes.
I enjoy these propositions every year and shared them with my sisters as we embarked on a rainy drive today. Thanks for sharing your gift with the world. Your words Touch my heart often.
Thank you, Kellie, I really appreciate your reading and responding.
Your writings are my joy.
You are lovely and kind, thank you, Joyce!
Always the deepest insight infused with love. Thank you for this, Steve.
Thank you, Ellen! So good to hear from you.
Eloquent again Steve. Love your deep insights onto life and love. Beth
Thank you so much, Beth!
Proverbs collected and, I assume, composed by Stephen, speak to my heart like those of Solomon. Thank you.
Thank you, Valerie!
Wow, Steve, you keep excelling yourself! I’m off to Canmore tomorrow, along with Pat and Jim, accompanied by these ‘ponderables’ !
Thank you, my kind friend!
Oh wow. I just read this to my 28 year old son, just like when you would read to your children before bed. He went to Victoria School of the Arts from Gr 1-12 and graduated 10 years ago. He’s amassed the most amazing collection of unknown record albums from the 60’s and the 70’s. We had a really great time discussing evolving list of gentle propositions. Happy yesterday year and tomorrow year. XOXO
That’s so cool, would love to go through that record collection. And thanks, Toby, for responding, loved that you discussed these little propositions.
Some truly memorable lines here, Steve! Were you intentional about the Hebrew poetic style? (I suspect so since you often refer to the Psalms). Thanks especially for mentioning Springside – never thought of it as poetry, but so true.
Thanks, Sam! Springside has always been something of a poetic spot, more so, as I age. As you know, I’m a devotee of the Pslams, so perhaps the style has rubbed off on me.