Over and over again, we lose site of what is important and what isn’t. We crave things over which we have no control, and not satisfied by the things within our control. We need to regularly stop and take stock; to sit down and determine within ourselves which things are worth valuing and which things are not. – Epictetus
The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives. – Joseph Campbell
Isn’t it fabulous?
How life rolls out
a welcome mat
one step at a time
with mysterious adventures
happening daily
sometimes the next step
is not visible until
we take a step
into
thin air
cloud fluff
wild surf
or
still water
mystery
nothingness
but when we step
believe
nets appear
wings magically unfurl
the stepping stone materializes
doors and windows
opening wide
without keys
or
knobs
beautiful hands hold us
great stars of faith
will guide us home
AL 6/7/13
This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
and they open–
pools of lace,
white and pink–
and all day the black ants climb over them,
boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away
to their dark, underground cities–
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,
the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding
all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again–
beauty the brave, the exemplary,
blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?
Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by the future, these are they who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment.
– Alban Goodier
As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
—Luke 7.12-15
She had lost a child— that most hollowing grief. He was her only son, her only way to pass on what she meant to the world. She was a widow, sorrow already having come and made a home with her. She was now without family, without a way to survive in the world. Though a stranger to her, Jesus, the Compassionate One, felt her anguish with her.
There is something fundamental to who we are, a part of us we believe we can’t live without, why it is that we are alive, what it is that we have been given to give to the world, how we shall go on— it is the child within us, the offspring of our heart, the self we hope to be. And sometimes it seems that it’s taken from us. To some degree maybe we all are grieving the loss of the Child, the hope of our souls, the Love of our Life.
But the Child, our hope, our Beloved whom we have lost, God restores to us. This story of Jesus copies the story of Elijah raising the widow’s son (in 1 Kings 17), ending with the same words: “He gave him to his mother.” When our inner Beloved, our heart’s Child, has been taken from us, the Compassionate One touches our grief, stretches out upon our sorrow, and restores to us the Love we had lost. God’s work is to renew, to restore, to return life to us.
And to return us to life. For we are really the ones who are revived. We ourselves are God’s Beloved Child, who have in ways died, lost our life. There is, as the Elijah story says, “no breath left” in us. And God restores us to life. It often takes a long time. But we are brought back to life. It is a gift, a miracle. And the Healer will give us to our Mother.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
The only people with whom you should try to get even with are those who have helped you.
– John E. Southard
I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. – William Penn
This moment is all that is guaranteed – use it to express the depth of your love and to wipe your slate clean of any resentment you are holding on to. Life is too precious to carry the weight of the past with you! Let it go and start to grow! – Jackson Kiddard
I am unleashing the power of the universe
I am stepping into this place of mystery
I have been advised to keep it simple,
which demands I stay aware.
Simplicity is the most difficult
elegance to achieve.
I must look for the needs of today,
always stepping forward
into the next moment.
looking back will get me no where.
looking at what is not mine yet
will destroy me.
I must stay aware of what I have,
what I can give
and
in so doing I will open to receive.
It is the universe’s grand plan.
It is the law of compensation
Today this is my goal:
to do what my hands find to do
with beauty,
kindness,
and truth.
AL 5/31/13
life: acoustic & amplified 