This last weekend we headed out of town to Guerneville, California which is up on the Russian River. The cottage we stayed at had a peaceful garden, along with a statue of Saint Francis, surrounded by little animals. I thought it was so appropriate, and uncanny, that we were visiting on the traditional “blessing of the animals” day (usually done in the first weekend of October). And, near the feast day for Saint Francis. It was nice to have him there, watching over us.
In fine Franciscan tradition, we ate, we laughed, we enjoyed Brother Redwood and Sister River. The mighty ocean met us with open arms. We greeted birds and squirrels. Zoom crawled around in the majesty of creation. We had a wonderful time.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis
Today I made this image from a photo of that statue, along with a quote from Saint Francis. I love the “baby step” approach; that some days we just have to do what we can, but with perseverance, with dedication, and likely with a little faith that we will succeed, we move on to be doing what we’d only dreamed about. I love that he’s given voice to the idea that you have to start DOING before you can BE the person you want to be. But it just takes a step towards the goal, and then you are on your way.
You can download it at Flickr if you want 🙂
