Fantastic! Thank you Elizabeth - I didn't know that, but it makes perfect sense. And how wonderful that you mention the Virgin Mary. Do you know the Renaissance painting of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico where there are three gold lines inscribed in the air between Mary and the Angel Gabriel, the Messenger who brings God's Word to impregnate her? I'd been imaging the scent of roses like those mysterious lines of Love that flow between Mary and God, but not really knowing how to convey that sense... thank you for giving me the link!

It's my pleasure, Kim! How wonderful.

Thank you! I'm so glad this blessing resonated for so many of you... O'Donohue's work, particularly his book, "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace" has made a huge impact on me.

Thank you for writing, Matthew. I think you can see by the comments here (which are merely a tiny tip of the iceberg) that there are a great many of us who share these feelings, however poorly or well we express them. Ball used amazing skill and delicacy and tenderness to achieve what really great art can do - express the inexpressible. To me this is a deeply human capacity that art - both making it and appreciating it - serves, but there are other doorways into the ineffable... religion, spirituality, love, awe, nature. My heart is swelling as I write. Thanks again, Matthew, for writing.

Thank you for being so sweet Barbara!I'd love to hear what seeds you're dreaming into being these days, as well...

I love your question, JJ... Sometimes I wonder if there is any one thing that "puts us on the path" of our life's learning, our soul's yearning... perhaps it's just that we come in with an opening, a sensitivity, that is triggered in response to beauty, or love, or pain (or whatever is a trigger for us) and sends us off, again and again, in the direction we need to go for the next part of our journey. Thanks so much for your lovely note.

Thanks, Mark!

My friend Bruce Taub just sent in this link to an article he'd read by a woman whose husband had just died in the NY Times' Opinionator blog recently. Thanks for the link, Bruce. It's not always easy to say good-bye to loved ones - whether you have two years, or two minutes to do so. The article reinforced for me the imperative to speak with each other about the really important things throughout our lives, and not put off those vital conversation to "some day", which all too often never comes.

Great line, Cindy! Thanks.

I know! It's amazing that something that simple is also potentially so profound ...

And thanks, Marcela - I'll keep you posted if I host one. This post has resulted in some great conversation on my FaceBook page already... :-)

Fantastic, Tilla! I look forward to hearing all about it... please do share.