Because this gorgeous wood sculpture rises up directly across the street from my home I see it out our kitchen window every day… in all kinds of light, across all seasons. Repeated thanks given to our dear neighbor, Esen, and her late husband, Cano Ozgener, who commissioned the sculpture, have never seemed adequate.

  Although I just forgot the sculptor's name, he has created something unforgettable. Today, I renamed his creation, "Mother Nurture."  

   Mother Nature's energy and Mother Nurture's love come to us first from the curved shapes of our mother. Across our lives, especially in our darkest hours, we seek the warmth, comfort and rounded essence with which we began. No matter how physically strong we males may become, our last word may well be the one soldiers often cry when felled: "Mother."

   With all her whorls, turns, curves, spins; with all her gifts of light and shadow; with all of her strength and grace; this sculpture will always symbolize, for me, woman. 

   Last week I offered a female image I created from a block of firewood. In this moment, I offer you the work of another artist who looked at a tree, imagined this complex shape within it, and created "Mother Nurture." 

   She offers a new way to experience both nature and nurture. May she comfort you as you go about your sacred work as a caregiver.

-Erie Chapman

*If you wish to support this journal and Radical Loving Care, please donate a dollar via the "Donate" button at https://www.eriechapmanfoundation.net 

Photo by Erie

Quote of the week: "The best things in life we don’t choose — they choose us. A great love, a great calling, a great illumination — they happen unto us, like light falling upon that which is lit." – Maria Popova, author of Figurings. She also edits my nomination for the world's best blog, The Marginalian.