life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the month “April, 2014”

30 Apr 2014

as long as this exists

“As long as this exists,” I thought, “and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy.” The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

“As long as this exists…” by Anne Frank, excerpt from The Diary of a Young Girl. © Bantam Books, 1986.

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28 Apr 2014

laughter is good medicine 😃

Some books are made to be tasted,
others to be swallowed,
and some few to be chewed and digested. – Francis Bacon
————————————————–❤️

I believe I have caught myself a case of Poetry! I am definitely in full epidemic mode! ❤️

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27 Apr 2014

no ordinary life

Out of darkness, light.
Out of chaos, Creation.
This is not the sequel to previous episodes.

Out of the dust of the earth, humans.
Out of slavery, freedom.
All explanations are a frantic ruse.

Out of death, life.
Out of the grave, Christ, living.
Proof is dust and darkness, not light.

Out of our wreckage, beginning.
Out of bounds, illimitable grace.
What your mind can grasp is not the mightiest.

Out of your ruin, forgiveness.
Out of body, a body.
What is given is greater than what is seen.

Out of your grave, a door.
Out of reach from death, the life of love.
Let your self go; only the love of God remains.

Out of your past, a new thing.
Out of the ordinary, glory.
Do you believe God can change you?

Either this, or nothing.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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26 Apr 2014

aware

Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
and the ways you go be the lines on your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
and your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
walk mindfully, well-loved one,
walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
be always coming home.

“Initiation Song from the Finders Lodge” by Ursula Le Guin, from Always Coming Home. © University of California Press, 1985.

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, courage, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Life, Love, Passion, Today, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

25 Apr 2014

an open letter to characters, pilgrims and missionaries

We walk in a storybook called life
As we undergo our epic journey
Wind turns the pages of sunshine and rain
Stars gently pull our hair towards intimacy with our souls
Moonlight,
that pool of tender reminder
that the best is yet to come
The novel ever winding
reaching to climax
The chapters building to grand finale
Line by line
Story within story
Stories and events
intersecting
winding in, out, beside, through
Characters come and go
We are each so many things,
All are pilgrims or missionaries here
Weaving the rich tapestry
of the three things that change us
Forever:
Dreams
Suffering
and
Love
Sometimes we may feel alone
We are never alone
The very air we breathe
connects us
makes us one with each other
We name our world as God instructed
ever naming is our instinctual work
As in all great love stories
there is never an ending
only that wondrous thought:
to be continued….

AL 4/25/14

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24 Apr 2014

some days I wonder if I will end up carrying my donkey

A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?”

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

Well, the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?”

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

“That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them:

Moral: Please all, and you will please none

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23 Apr 2014

Being Sent Into the World

Each of us has a mission in life. Jesus prays to his Father for his followers, saying: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

We seldom realise fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we have to choose how, where, and with whom to live. We act as if we were simply plopped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org

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22 Apr 2014

life again

What’s been wearing death clothes in a life can get up and walk, what we’ve felt as wounds, by His wounds, are being healed, what’s being burnt to ashes will birth beauty. Ashes are always the papery birth announcement of beauty rising. – Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com

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21 Apr 2014

desiring

Desire is often talked about as something we ought to overcome. Still, being is desiring: our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls are full of desires. Some are unruly, turbulent, and very distracting; some make us think deep thoughts and see great visions; some teach us how to love; and some keep us searching for God. Our desire for God is the desire that should guide all other desires. Otherwise our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls become one another’s enemies and our inner lives become chaotic, leading us to despair and self-destruction.

Spiritual disciplines are not ways to eradicate all our desires but ways to order them so that they can serve one another and together serve God.

http://www.henrinouwen.org

Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord. –J.I. Packer

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20 Apr 2014