Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? you are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Nelson Mandela
"I am entirely of King Edmund's opinion," said Reepicheep, "as far as concerns the ship's company in general. Bu I myself will sit at this table till sunrise."
"Why on earth?" said Eustace.
"Because," said the Mouse, "this is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear."
-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Sunday, May 5, 2013
All the World's a Stage
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
-William Shakespeare
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
-William Shakespeare
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Orphans, Kingdoms by Brooke Fraser
In me, in you
Orphans, kingdoms
Wide eyes and paper crowns
Time will hold us,
Time erode us
We're wrinkling children now
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
In me, in you
Things, explorers
Babes with codes of arms
A world inside us
A feast, a harvest
Each soul a sun, a star
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die
We will look our Maker in the eye
Raise a flagon and drink to your health
Who is he that can conquer himself?
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
Orphans, kingdoms
Wide eyes and paper crowns
Time will hold us,
Time erode us
We're wrinkling children now
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
In me, in you
Things, explorers
Babes with codes of arms
A world inside us
A feast, a harvest
Each soul a sun, a star
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die
We will look our Maker in the eye
Raise a flagon and drink to your health
Who is he that can conquer himself?
We are wandering where the wild wind blows
We are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows
What we are
Orphans, kingdoms
Old Pine
Hot sand on toes,
cold sand in sleeping bags,
I've come to know that memories
Were the best things you ever had
The summer shone beat down bony backs
So far from home where the ocean stood
Down dust and pine cone tracks
We slept like dogs down by the fire side
Awoke to the fog all around us
The boom of summer time
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
As the old pine fell we sang
Just to bless the morning.
Hot sand on toes,
cold sand in sleeping bags,
I've come tot know the friends around you
Are all you'll always ahve
Smoke in my lungs,
or the echoed stone
Careless and young,
free as the birds that fly
With weightless souls now
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
As the old pine fell we sang
Just to bless the morning
We grow, grow, steady as the morning
We grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, happy as a new dawn
We grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, steady as the flowers
we grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, happy as a new dawn
We grow, grow, older still
cold sand in sleeping bags,
I've come to know that memories
Were the best things you ever had
The summer shone beat down bony backs
So far from home where the ocean stood
Down dust and pine cone tracks
We slept like dogs down by the fire side
Awoke to the fog all around us
The boom of summer time
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
As the old pine fell we sang
Just to bless the morning.
Hot sand on toes,
cold sand in sleeping bags,
I've come tot know the friends around you
Are all you'll always ahve
Smoke in my lungs,
or the echoed stone
Careless and young,
free as the birds that fly
With weightless souls now
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
As the old pine fell we sang
Just to bless the morning
We grow, grow, steady as the morning
We grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, happy as a new dawn
We grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, steady as the flowers
we grow, grow, older still
We grow, grow, happy as a new dawn
We grow, grow, older still
My Work
To do the work I am given to do, I am going to need to do some homework. I am going to need to do some thinking and wondering and studying about my gifts and my talents. I am going to need to be sure that what I do with my hands actually comes from and nurtures my heart. I am going to have to examine its effects upon others and how it fits into the kingdom that has already come. And I am going to have to be clear about why I am doing it and my hopes and my dreams.
-Living Prayer by Robert Benson
We skip down the hallways of our youth, you and I, stopping now and then to catch our breath. And every now and then we catch something else. A glimpse of the future. Our future. A glimpse we caught when we came across a window suddenly flung open in front of us, its gossamer curtains lifted by the breeze redolent with the future, filling our lungs with refreshing air and our heart with hopeful dreams.
At that window we hear something like somebody calling our name, only in a language we can't quite understand, so we don't recognize who it is who is calling us or to where we are being called.
But we recognize the name
Even in a foreign language, names translate closely to the original. Whoever is calling us is calling us by our true name. Whispering to us a secret. Telling us who we are. And showing us what we will be doing with our lives if only we have eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the faith to follow.
-Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire
-Living Prayer by Robert Benson
We skip down the hallways of our youth, you and I, stopping now and then to catch our breath. And every now and then we catch something else. A glimpse of the future. Our future. A glimpse we caught when we came across a window suddenly flung open in front of us, its gossamer curtains lifted by the breeze redolent with the future, filling our lungs with refreshing air and our heart with hopeful dreams.
At that window we hear something like somebody calling our name, only in a language we can't quite understand, so we don't recognize who it is who is calling us or to where we are being called.
But we recognize the name
Even in a foreign language, names translate closely to the original. Whoever is calling us is calling us by our true name. Whispering to us a secret. Telling us who we are. And showing us what we will be doing with our lives if only we have eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the faith to follow.
-Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire
The Garden
In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
-James 1:21 (MSG)
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
-Isaiah 58:11
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of the briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.
-Isaiah 55:12-13
The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
-Isaiah 51:3
Father,
Allow the soil of my soul to be a place that is fertile and receptive to all that you desire to plant in my heart. Tend it carefully and nurture all that has sprung up in me that is of you; that I may be a garden of your delight. Through Jesus. Amen.
You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.
-Psalm 65:9-12
When you meditate or abide in your quiet times of communion, you do not charge in and do something, like saying, "I will now be good and move mountains by my acts of faith." No, you water your garden, knowing that these ideas are growing into a heavenly garden; the indwelling spirit doeth the work, not you: you merely water it. Do you not see the comfort there is in that? I can tell you in a primer language that a very gentle, calm, unemotional, selfless, and patient attitude toward your spiritual growth is essential- such as all old gardeners know. They know that patience, hoeing, watering, and certain order, a quiet rhythm, bring a heavenly beauty.
-Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood
I find you there in all these things
I care for like a brother.
A seed, you nestle in the smallest of them,
and in the huge ones spread yourself hugely.
Such is the amazing play of powers:
they give themselves so willingly,
swelling in the roots, thinning as the trunks rise,
and in the high leaves, resurrection.
-Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke
Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of invisible and visible winged seeds, so the stream of time brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of the unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these can not spring up anywhere except in the good soil of liberty and desire.
The mind that is the prisoner of its own pleasure and the will that is the captive of its own desire cannot accept the seeds of a higher pleasure and a supernatural desire.
For how can I receive the seeds of freedom if I am in love with slavery and how can I cherish the desire of God if I am filled with another and opposite desire? God will not plant His liberty in me because I am a prisoner and I do not even desire to be free. I love my captivity and I lock myself in the desire for things that i hate, and I have hardened my heart against true love.
-Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
He said I caught the point of the third soil right on the head! It was full of weeds and thorns...I guess he meant that often our lives are strangled by things that don't matter ultimately- he often referred to people who dwelt in this state of mind as "nit-pickers!" He felt that more people lost the joy of their faith in God because of pet attitudes of nonsense! That always strangles life and love....
.... He kept tantalizing me to try to find the deepest lesson of the parable...it finally hit me: All the soils were in the same field! He slapped my knee and threw his head back with a hearty laugh.... My life is a blend of many responses to God- busy in solid service but like a hustling cook sometimes hungry over a full kettle...living in a shallow artificial faith at times...overly concerned at times with things that don't matter ultimately...and-like now- warm and fertile soil, productive, responsive to his bidding.
-The Gospel According to Norton by Grady Nutt
Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you- you of little faith!
-Luke 12-27-28
-James 1:21 (MSG)
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
-Isaiah 58:11
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of the briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.
-Isaiah 55:12-13
The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
-Isaiah 51:3
Father,
Allow the soil of my soul to be a place that is fertile and receptive to all that you desire to plant in my heart. Tend it carefully and nurture all that has sprung up in me that is of you; that I may be a garden of your delight. Through Jesus. Amen.
You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.
-Psalm 65:9-12
When you meditate or abide in your quiet times of communion, you do not charge in and do something, like saying, "I will now be good and move mountains by my acts of faith." No, you water your garden, knowing that these ideas are growing into a heavenly garden; the indwelling spirit doeth the work, not you: you merely water it. Do you not see the comfort there is in that? I can tell you in a primer language that a very gentle, calm, unemotional, selfless, and patient attitude toward your spiritual growth is essential- such as all old gardeners know. They know that patience, hoeing, watering, and certain order, a quiet rhythm, bring a heavenly beauty.
-Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood
I find you there in all these things
I care for like a brother.
A seed, you nestle in the smallest of them,
and in the huge ones spread yourself hugely.
Such is the amazing play of powers:
they give themselves so willingly,
swelling in the roots, thinning as the trunks rise,
and in the high leaves, resurrection.
-Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke
Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of invisible and visible winged seeds, so the stream of time brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of the unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these can not spring up anywhere except in the good soil of liberty and desire.
The mind that is the prisoner of its own pleasure and the will that is the captive of its own desire cannot accept the seeds of a higher pleasure and a supernatural desire.
For how can I receive the seeds of freedom if I am in love with slavery and how can I cherish the desire of God if I am filled with another and opposite desire? God will not plant His liberty in me because I am a prisoner and I do not even desire to be free. I love my captivity and I lock myself in the desire for things that i hate, and I have hardened my heart against true love.
-Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
He said I caught the point of the third soil right on the head! It was full of weeds and thorns...I guess he meant that often our lives are strangled by things that don't matter ultimately- he often referred to people who dwelt in this state of mind as "nit-pickers!" He felt that more people lost the joy of their faith in God because of pet attitudes of nonsense! That always strangles life and love....
.... He kept tantalizing me to try to find the deepest lesson of the parable...it finally hit me: All the soils were in the same field! He slapped my knee and threw his head back with a hearty laugh.... My life is a blend of many responses to God- busy in solid service but like a hustling cook sometimes hungry over a full kettle...living in a shallow artificial faith at times...overly concerned at times with things that don't matter ultimately...and-like now- warm and fertile soil, productive, responsive to his bidding.
-The Gospel According to Norton by Grady Nutt
Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you- you of little faith!
-Luke 12-27-28
Come and Stay a While- Shalom & Wholeness
Few words in all of the Old Testament are as rich as the Hebrew word shalom. As a matter of fact, the translations of this one little word are varied and numerous- trying in vain to capture the fullness of the idea it is meant to communicate. The most common translation we have for the word is peace, but that does not seem to go far enough. Therefore, it is also translated prosperity, tranquility, well-being, safety, and security. Maybe the best word we have in the English language, however, that even comes close to capturing the true essence of shalom is the word wholeness. Because at its core shalom is about experiencing the creation intent of God. Shalom is life as God intended it to be- life before sin and brokenness. Shalom is finding our way back into the garden where we were created to enjoy and experience God in His fullness as we "walk with HIm in the cool of the day." It is what our souls are really and truly longing for- deep communion and connection and intimacy with our God.
-Jim Branch
The biblical word that most fully expresses this theological understanding of community is shalom, sometimes translated from the Hebrew as "peace." Shalom is an all-encomapssing word covering all the many relationships of life and expression a vision of what the Israelites conceived of as the ideal of what life was intended by God to be. In describing shalom, commentators use words as "wholeness," "totality," "the untrammeled, free growth of the soul in conjunction with others," or "harmonious community." Or as a report of the World Council of Churches puts it: "Shalom is a social happening, an event in interpersonal relations." The report continues, "The goal towards which God is working, i.e., the ultimate end of his mission, is the establishment of the shalom, and this involves the realization of the full potentialities of all creation, and the ultimate reconciliation and unity in Christ.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen
Shalom...gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God's will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.
-A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
Shalom is a peace that not only recalls all the pieces of one's life but sees how the parts fit together in a unified and glorious whole. Shalom involves rest and gratitude; it provides a balance and harmony where all things seem right.
-The Healing Path by Dan Allender
The Christian journey is a journey in wholeness. It is what we might call an adventure in spiritual growth. To talk about spiritual growth, however, is to talk about all of life. Spiritual growth involves not only the way we "pray" but the way we "play." It is concerned with harmony, the person is nourished by the Spirit of God. Harmony emerges when our work, maintenance, play, and freesense are held together in realistic balance.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen.
The witness and vision of John's Gospel call us to enter more deeply into that mystery of the union between the living Jesus and the believer. We share the shalom, that vibrant word of peace and wholeness spoken in the locked room on Resurrection night. Our empty nets are filled from the lake; the fire and food are prepared for us on the beach. Our inner healing moves to a deeper place, and Jesus Christ gives us the mandate: "Feed my sheep."
-Feed My Shepherd by Flora Slosson Wuellner
Every summer, I go to the Boundary Waters, a million acres of pristine wilderness along the Minnesota-Ontario border. My first trip, years ago, was a vacation, pure and simle. But as I returned time and again to that elemental world of water, rock, woods, and sky, my vacation began to feel more like a pilgrimage to me- an annual trek to holy ground driven by spiritual need. Douglas Wood's mediation on the jack pine, a tree native to that part of the world, names what I go up north seeking: images of how life looks when it is lived with integrity.
Thomas Merton claimed that "there is in all things... a hidden wholeness."... up north, in the wilderness, I sense the wholeness "hidden in all things." It is the taste of wild berries, the scent of sun-baked pine, the sight of the Northern Lights, the sound of water lapping the shore, signs of a bedrock integrity that is eternal and beyond all doubt. And when I return to a human world that is transient and riddled with disbelief, I have new eyes for the wholeness hidden in me and my kind and anew heart for loving even our imperfections.
In fact, the wilderness constantly reminds me that wholeness is not about perfection. On July 4, 1999, a twenty-minute maelstrom of hurricane-force winds took down twenty million trees across the Boundary waters. A month later, when I made my annual pilgrimage up north, I was heartbroken by the ruin and wondered whether I wanted to return. And yet on each visit since, I have been astonished to see how nature uses devastation to stimulate new growth, slowly but persistently healing her own wounds.
Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness- mine, yours, ours- need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.
-A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer
-Jim Branch
The biblical word that most fully expresses this theological understanding of community is shalom, sometimes translated from the Hebrew as "peace." Shalom is an all-encomapssing word covering all the many relationships of life and expression a vision of what the Israelites conceived of as the ideal of what life was intended by God to be. In describing shalom, commentators use words as "wholeness," "totality," "the untrammeled, free growth of the soul in conjunction with others," or "harmonious community." Or as a report of the World Council of Churches puts it: "Shalom is a social happening, an event in interpersonal relations." The report continues, "The goal towards which God is working, i.e., the ultimate end of his mission, is the establishment of the shalom, and this involves the realization of the full potentialities of all creation, and the ultimate reconciliation and unity in Christ.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen
Shalom...gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God's will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.
-A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
Shalom is a peace that not only recalls all the pieces of one's life but sees how the parts fit together in a unified and glorious whole. Shalom involves rest and gratitude; it provides a balance and harmony where all things seem right.
-The Healing Path by Dan Allender
The Christian journey is a journey in wholeness. It is what we might call an adventure in spiritual growth. To talk about spiritual growth, however, is to talk about all of life. Spiritual growth involves not only the way we "pray" but the way we "play." It is concerned with harmony, the person is nourished by the Spirit of God. Harmony emerges when our work, maintenance, play, and freesense are held together in realistic balance.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen.
The witness and vision of John's Gospel call us to enter more deeply into that mystery of the union between the living Jesus and the believer. We share the shalom, that vibrant word of peace and wholeness spoken in the locked room on Resurrection night. Our empty nets are filled from the lake; the fire and food are prepared for us on the beach. Our inner healing moves to a deeper place, and Jesus Christ gives us the mandate: "Feed my sheep."
-Feed My Shepherd by Flora Slosson Wuellner
Every summer, I go to the Boundary Waters, a million acres of pristine wilderness along the Minnesota-Ontario border. My first trip, years ago, was a vacation, pure and simle. But as I returned time and again to that elemental world of water, rock, woods, and sky, my vacation began to feel more like a pilgrimage to me- an annual trek to holy ground driven by spiritual need. Douglas Wood's mediation on the jack pine, a tree native to that part of the world, names what I go up north seeking: images of how life looks when it is lived with integrity.
Thomas Merton claimed that "there is in all things... a hidden wholeness."... up north, in the wilderness, I sense the wholeness "hidden in all things." It is the taste of wild berries, the scent of sun-baked pine, the sight of the Northern Lights, the sound of water lapping the shore, signs of a bedrock integrity that is eternal and beyond all doubt. And when I return to a human world that is transient and riddled with disbelief, I have new eyes for the wholeness hidden in me and my kind and anew heart for loving even our imperfections.
In fact, the wilderness constantly reminds me that wholeness is not about perfection. On July 4, 1999, a twenty-minute maelstrom of hurricane-force winds took down twenty million trees across the Boundary waters. A month later, when I made my annual pilgrimage up north, I was heartbroken by the ruin and wondered whether I wanted to return. And yet on each visit since, I have been astonished to see how nature uses devastation to stimulate new growth, slowly but persistently healing her own wounds.
Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness- mine, yours, ours- need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.
-A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
His Creation
Only He can make beauty
of the rugged and unruly
without moving to tame
the wildness inherit.
without moving to tame
the wildness inherit.
Freedom is His artist's tool,
liberty His vision.
Through gentle strength incomparable
He sets aflame the spirit.
liberty His vision.
Through gentle strength incomparable
He sets aflame the spirit.
Don't flee to tasks and stature
these things to fill your soul
their chains and shackles bind you
and slavery takes its hold
these things to fill your soul
their chains and shackles bind you
and slavery takes its hold
It's He who formed the mountains.
It's He who filled the sea.
The longing in your heart for grandeur
is infinitely deep.
It's He who filled the sea.
The longing in your heart for grandeur
is infinitely deep.
You need a risk and wonder
you need the wind to sail
The life you live is anchored in
but already there's a gale.
you need the wind to sail
The life you live is anchored in
but already there's a gale.
Run to raw and powerful,
stability by peril.
Risk it all and find your call
along the path so narrow
stability by peril.
Risk it all and find your call
along the path so narrow
Reoccurring Dreams
Reoccurring dreams
And fantasies
Passing back into my mind for storage
Truth and nonsense,
Our carelessness
Feeling to be free forever and I wait
Ten thousand days
Just to wonder if it ever really were
Or as it seems
As in a dream
Only like the secret keepers like to say,
"Those were the days"
And how we danced because our youth was fading fast
It never lasts
But I don't want to chase the place I'm in or wish
A moment by
I would not hide
Because the sun requests our company and we
Can not deny
That in each night
There is a time when we consider life or pray
To be awake
Appreciate
That each breath could be the last one that I take
Loose Thread
Like loose thread, it teases.
I take hold and I pull.
Carefully, cautiously
Begging it, "Unravel."
So delicate, it breaks,
Becoming but a shred.
How pitiful!
String between my finger tips,
Laughing as it twirls,
Mocks my own mortality,
and tuants me when it curls.
Fraying ends distract
The tatters from their tales
Making sure to hide the faded truth
And all that it entails.
It's clear I'll never you
Your full length or how
A stitch once made you lovely
Or how love wore you out.
Now though, I can see
A glimpse of what's beneath
And say that I am satisfied
With knowing just this piece.
In Response to Robert Frost's "Wind & Window Flower"
I do not believe the winter breeze
might love and long to stroke the window flower.
Fog upon the glass is deceitful
misty like the breath of a kiss
that almost came to be.
It seems to beckon gently and to tease
as the wind shivers in the gaps along the shutters.
But the wiser know the frosty snow sparkles with a secret
hiding behind his wintery, love-sick eyes;
a plan to steal away the life that waits
so patiently upon the sill behind the pane.
Faith
His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him- though He is not far from any one of us.
Acts 17:27
-My Utmost for His Highest
God placed in your heart the desire to know Him so that you would begin feeling your way towards Him. You found little hints and great signs that pointed towards Him. You felt His presence, but you were not able to find Him on your own.
Then He began to reveal Himself to you. He began to romance you. He tugged on the strings of your heart, pulling on the desire he placed within you, drawing you closer as he revealed more and more of HImself. And He led you that way, by the strings of your heart, to the tipping point. You walked right up to the edge-you could not help but follow Him- and then you fell. You tumbled into a love that was true and undeniable because you knew your lover and you knew that He would never leave you.
That is faith.
A confident man walks into a room and everyone can see, written in his expression and displayed in his body language, that he is confident. He never chose to be confident, but because he knows who he is and because he likes who he is, he IS confident. His confident nature shows in his manner.
Faith is confidence produced by knowing who God is and accepting what God did and is doing for you. You do not choose to have faith. You chose to follow the desire He gave you- to search for Him. You began to feel your way towards Him and He began to reveal Himself to you
Begin with the End in Mind
"How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most. If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind."
"in developing our own self-awareness many of us discover ineffective scripts, deeply embedded habits that are totally unworthy of us, totally incongruent with the things we really value in life. Habit 2 says we don't have to live with those scripts. We are response-able to use our imagination and creativity to write new ones that are more effective, more congruent with our deepest values and with the correct principles that give our values meaning."
"I can live out of my imagination instead of my memory. I can tie myself to my limitless potential instead of my limiting past."
"People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them. They key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value."
"whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power."
Guidance means your source of direction in life. Encompassed by your map, your internal frame of reference that interprets for you what is happening out there, are standards or principles or implicit criteria that govern moment by moment decision-making and doing.
Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, an integrated wholeness.
Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. It also includes the capacity to overcome deeply embedded habits and to cultivate higher, more effective ones."
"each of us has a center, though we usually don't recognize it as such. neither do we recognize the all-encompassing effects of that center on every aspect of our lives.
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Begin Again
The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experience, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
-Chris McCandless
I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
-Billy Joel
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
- Dr. Seuss
May your coming year be filled with magic and good madness. Never forget to make some art- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it.
-Neil Gaiman
We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.
-Robert Louis Stevenson
I acknowledge the privilege of being alive in a human body at this moment, endowed with senses, memories, emotions, thoughts and the space of mind.
-Alex Grey
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