From this morning’s reading of Joyce Sequichie Hifler’s Cherokee Feast of Days: Daily Meditations  I read the quote, “The Great Spirit smiled upon us and made us glad…but we had to agree” ~ Keokuk. The phrase struck me so. Sweet Life has made us joyful but the choice of joy is ours. It is not what we have, what we strive for, or even a fervent prayer request. It is what we are… we simply have to agree. Our agreement becomes our realization and becoming.

After another day of astonished wonder at the pain in the world, I grabbed my little dog and went for a short walk. The wind blowing through the trees made my body quiver in remembrance of the sound of ocean waves. As we walked I pause and stroked a branch of pine needles dancing in the wind. Have you any idea how soft pine needles can feel when a weary hand caresses them? Most of my life has been spent in the land of Pine but I never knew how soft they could feel. Or, just maybe, like the whisper upon the wind, I never reached out and touched them…. in agreement.