{"id":1827,"date":"2015-07-20T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2015-07-17T14:12:05","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T18:12:05","slug":"the-feast-of-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/07\/the-feast-of-life-2.html","title":{"rendered":"The Feast of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Diane Bader<\/p>\n<p>I am woman, a seeker after truth, knowledge and Wisdom<br \/>\nOne who travels secretly, inwardly, on this journey of life,<br \/>\nOne who seeks to know the Feminine,<br \/>\nWho seeks to know the Divine.<br \/>\nI hunger and thirst for inner truth<br \/>\nAs I read voraciously,<br \/>\nAs I feed upon the wisdom and knowledge of others<br \/>\nAlways seeking nourishment for guidance along my own<br \/>\npath of discovery.<br \/>\nWhen I find such words,<br \/>\nI feast hungrily upon them<br \/>\nUntil I find another who adds to the feast<br \/>\nAnd yet another \u2026<br \/>\nI am refreshed by the sweet nectar<br \/>\nAs similar thoughts flow together<br \/>\nTo resonate with my soul.<br \/>\nAs years flow seamlessly into years,<\/p>\n<p>The urgency of living lessens.<br \/>\nIt is my time to grow ever more deeply and<br \/>\nMeditate upon the feast spread before me.<br \/>\nI choose the choice bits<br \/>\nAnd make them my own<br \/>\nNo longer \u201cout there\u201d \u2013 someone else\u2019s thoughts<br \/>\nThey are my soul food.<br \/>\nThey belong to me.<br \/>\nRarely do I find the words to share them,<br \/>\nRarely do I find an Anam Cara to hear them.<br \/>\nMy soul yearns and pines<br \/>\nFor the courts of the Divine.<br \/>\nOnly then will the feast be complete,<br \/>\nOnly then will my soul be satiated.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, I journey upon Mother Earth<br \/>\nSeeking to nourish her and preserve her<br \/>\nFor future generations.<br \/>\nI trod gently, very gently<br \/>\nAs I enjoy glimpses of the Divine presence<br \/>\nIn her sunsets, her gentle rains,<br \/>\nHer green blades of spring,<br \/>\nHer richness of harvest.<\/p>\n<p>When I see brilliant vermilion and orange<br \/>\nSpread across the evening horizon,<br \/>\nI know they are for someone special<br \/>\nWho has just passed from this temporary dwelling<br \/>\nInto the next<br \/>\nAnd I am again enriched<br \/>\nBy the abundance of such Divine Beauty<br \/>\n* ***<br \/>\nDonna Henes is the author of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thequeenofmyself.com\"><em>The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife<\/em>.<\/a> She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.donnahenes.net\/queen\/consult.shtml\">Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to <a href=\"mailto:thequeenofmyself@aol.com\">thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Diane Bader I am woman, a seeker after truth, knowledge and Wisdom One who travels secretly, inwardly, on this journey of life, One who seeks to know the Feminine, Who seeks to know the Divine. I hunger and thirst for inner truth As I read voraciously, As I feed upon the wisdom and knowledge&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[190,40,13,440,39],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-celebrate","tag-empowerment-2","tag-holistic-living","tag-life","tag-power"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Feast of Life - The Queen of My Self<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/07\/the-feast-of-life-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Feast of Life - The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Diane Bader I am woman, a seeker after truth, knowledge and Wisdom One who travels secretly, inwardly, on this journey of life, One who seeks to know the Feminine, Who seeks to know the Divine. 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