A new spring day dawns.
 There is a fresh and cool peacefulness
and blue sky beauty


in Aotearoa - New Zealand. 

Land of The Long White Cloud. 

The starling
sits unknowing
on my television aerial,
warming himself in the early sunshine.
If I turn my TV on
the news of the world will rush into my consciousness.
I will be aware of the violent clashes in the world
over territory and belief.
The starling
feels the warmth of the sunlight
and listens to the soft trills of his fellow starlings
sitting in the still leafless oak tree.

I attack my desk calendar.
Too many old year pages outweigh what is left of 2012.
There it is.
Today.
24 September.
My sister Shirley's birthday.
12 years older than me.
There's a syncronicity of numbers this year.

It is also the Feast of The Mother of Mercy.
I send blessings to all Sisters of Mercy,
those strong, wise women
who taught me more than they will ever know,
and will always be sisters to me.

I note a discarded page
with words scribbled down while I  listened earlier in the year
to a radio lecture
of  Glenn Colquhoun, GP and a favourite NZ Poet of mine.

"I don't want to know the answers to the big questions.
Doubt.
I love the doubt.
The not knowing
is where the ache and throb of us is.
Knowing the answers
is dangerous and controlling.."

I love his words.

We truly know so little.
We are the story tellers struggling to find meaning.
If we believe this,
then all the stories of the world are beautiful..
all the attempts at explaining why we are here and how we got here
are beautiful,
and to be celebrated.

"Religion is the map. Life is the journey",
says Joy Cowley.
"We need a map, and as life is lived we write our own."

The saddest thing is to see the bitter fighting and violence in the world
all because some are sure they know the only truth.

Today I will live like a starling.
He doesn't even know he doesn't know.

While I walk in the sun and look at the clouds and flowers of spring,
and listen to the spring madness of birds in love with life,
I will send love to the world,
especially Shirley and The Sisters of Mercy,
and pray for sanity for this planet of ours!

PS:  I have to admit, even the starling fights for his territory
and chases the tui when he visits.