Glories Stream From Heaven Afar

Hi Friend.

First, I want to thank each and every one of your generous hearts for reading what I write. As a person who has loved words her whole life, who was once reluctant to call herself a writer in any kind of public way, I can tell you that I am amazed, each and every time I write something, that someone reads it. If gratitude was a fire, you would be able to see the one you, as a reader, ignite in my life, from where you are.

It’s a wonderful moment in life when you finally realize I was born to do this, which is how it feels for me, as a writer.

It’s a relief, too, because most of us are tossed and turned by the waves of someone else’s ideas about life well before we are even able to discern what it is we love so fully that we can’t not do it.

So thank you. For reading, and for those of you who support this little enterprise by sharing in your resources, thank you. I don’t have a job figured out yet for when I leave my paycheck in the spring, so I’m more grateful than ever for those of you who subscribe and send some of your hard-earned dollars this way. Deep and abiding gratitude.

Perhaps you would like to wish someone a good new year with a subscription. And if you don’t want a subscription or know anyone who would want a subscription or wish there was no such thing as subscriptions because you only want to read every once in a while, perhaps you’d like to just leave a tip, which you can do HERE.
Thank you for supporting the work I love to do.

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Moving into the new year I am thinking a lot about the things I want to do. It’s a big-deal year for me because I’m turning 60. In the Chinese zodiac it’s my year: the Year of the Snake, and I am very excited about this.

I love snakes. I mean, I don’t want to have one as a pet, I don’t like to touch them or anything like that, but I love how low-to-the ground they are. How they slither around quietly. I love how they laze about in the sun—I can totally relate. Even though almost everyone is afraid of snakes, only a small percentage of them are venomous.

So it’s my year! And it feels like, if I remain alive, this could be my last decade of good mental and physical capacity, I’m not fooling myself on all of that. My eyesight is diminishing, my joints hurt, I’m fumbly on my feet, I can’t remember anyone’s name. Right now I’m fine; I don’t expect to be as fine when I’m turning 70, so I see this as perhaps the last solid decade and so I want do the things I love to do as often as possible.

When I think about what I love to do, the word art comes up every time. But I don’t mean painting or drawing, I mean creating. Just being creative.

I remember very clearly when I realized, when I was in my 30’s, that one could do projects as a way to earn a living, live a life. Truly, it was an astonishing thought, one that I had not encountered. I grew up in a life with no extra money and when I earned my own I spent it almost immediately, so hungry was I for material satisfaction. I understood that one had to have a job, collect a paycheck, in order to live in this world. Doing creative things seemed like a privilege reserved only for those who had a trust fund or money from someone else. I was so accustomed to the industrious life that the idea of making or doing anything simply because I loved doing it seemed … lazy.

Once I rescued that genie from the bottle, there was no end to the creative things I wanted to do: write, draw, photograph, arrange flowers. I wanted to be near art and in close proximity to creative people, dead and alive.

Over time I have come to understand that this is precisely why we are here: to discover our own art and to create as often as possible. Rick Rubin has written a terrific book about this, which I recommend reading in this new year.

I have reached the point in my life where when I’m not being creative I get crabby. I don’t want to be around people, I don’t want to do anything, I only want to get back to my writing or my flowers or an art museum. I want to be left alone to read about and contemplate the mysteries of life.

We are literally here to create. The Creator, the One that has in-spirited us with the breath of life, needs us to be creative. There is a flow and perfection to all of life and you and I are part of it. It’s a creative flow and we’re here to do our part and when we ignore that things don’t go well. When we allow the flow of that Energy to move through our hearts, minds, bodies and life, then we are enlivening, animating our soul’s purpose here in this life, and this is the whole point. Glories do, indeed, stream from heaven afar, and you and I are here to allow them to find a perch in our lives.

You all know what I’m talking about — you have seen the person who is so immersed in the things they love that there no distinction between them and the work they do; their entire life is a work of art. I can think of chefs, painters, golfers, gardeners, dog trainers, woodworkers, comedians, you name it. These are people who have tapped into their own personal goo, their purpose, the contents of their soul contract, and you know it and feel it when you’re around them.

I remember several years ago when my daughter, Coco, became fixated on cooking and being on a cooking show. She pursued this with singular intent, trained with a chef, auditioned for Chopped, Jr and got on the show. She was twelve years old at the time. During that time we came to know the amazing and wonderful story of Flynn McGary, who started a restaurant in his mom’s living room when he was 11. There’s a terrific film about him. He opened a restaurant in NYC called Gem when he was 19. By then he was pretty famous and the restaurant very popular. We decided to go there to see what it was all about.

That night, in the coziness of Gem, we watched in amazement as Flynn not only cooked, but delivered food to our table. He chatted with us and, when he learned about Coco’s experience with Chopped, Jr., he invited her to work with him in his restaurant “the next time you’re in New York.”

That’s how much that guy loves food and cooking and cooking food for people.

I ask that you, moving into your new year, begin to trust this truth, that you are here to create. Investigate your own life, if you haven’t yet, for signs of what it is you came here to do, what your soul needs to accomplish. Make space in your life to do more of it. A couple of months ago I rented an office space, a creative space, in a beautiful old building in Saratoga, where I grew up. I don’t get there very often (yet), but it sits in my head as my space, my quiet, private space in this world, giving honor to the truth that I am a creative being who needs and should have time and a place to work. Eventually the work becomes the generator of income and then I am living in the flow of life.

This is good news for me and for everyone whose life touches mine. When we choose to create, to turn the contents of our heart’s desires into something tangible, then we raise our own vibration with the joy that arises, which, in turn, has a positive impact on the world around us. Joy is very contagious; please join me in my belief that the world would like for us to generate more joy in 2025.

Happiest of days ahead,
w/love, mo