I really love this little wooden dove - for sure, it is mass produced, but its fragility and beauty express something of the wonderful gift of peace...

This morning I walked soley in the dark, back at least an hour before first light, and I loved the stillness of the streets (apart from refuse trucks, delivery vans and  few buses!)  Peace and stillness often seem to go together.  But my walk wasn't silent, there was birdsong, the sound of the river flowing under a bridge, the rustle of the breeze in the trees... peace isn't nothingness or even necessarily inactivity, but a state of being within it all.

This winter solstice of the strangest of years, may peace be yours.