life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the month “June, 2014”

it’s an emerald world

20140621-091225-33145274.jpg
.. and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
– Revelation 4:3

“Smaragdos” is Greek for “emerald.” It is thought to mean “live coal,” so says one Bible Dictionary anyway.

That’s parallel with the Hebrew definition as well, “glowing”.

In Scripture it seems to be the emblem of things “eternal,” things “everlasting,” things “not dead” and “never going to die!” Things very much “alive!”

God is encircled in Glory right now with an emerald-green hue! A bow, a rainbow, that lacks the seven colors of the spectrum, and only radiates green – like leaves in summer.

God on the Throne … eternal!

The Life He gives us … eternal!

Grace and Mercy … eternal!

Think about these things!

Ponder them!

– Dr. Mike Bagwell (edited)

20140621-092228-33748776.jpg

Today emeralds have been assigned all kinds of meanings. Below is a list of some of the things an emerald can represent:

Emeralds traditionally represent true love and are said to change color when the loved one is being unfaithful

Emeralds were also thought to change color to alert the wearer of impending danger. Ever wonder if your emerald has tried to tell you something?

Besides love, emeralds are a symbol of loyalty, devotion, adoration and friendship

Emeralds were also regarded as supernatural and gave the wearer the ability to see into the future if the emerald was worn on the left side of the body or touched to the tongue.

Emeralds also serve as protective talismans and guard against enchantments and spells.

The Greeks also believed that apart from giving the owner eloquence, an emerald also made the wearer more intelligent and honest.

Because of their green color, emeralds are associated with rebirth and spring and are said to boost creativity.

They also open the door to new possibilities.

https://www.zivajewels.com/blog/2011/01/the-history-and-meaning-of-emeralds/ (edited)

Stained glass by Daniel Maher Stained Glass Studio (top)

surrender song

20140620-093239-34359336.jpg
A seminary professor once asked his students, “What is the most important word in the New Testament?”

The students’ responses varied: “Love.” “Salvation.” “Redemption.” “Forgiveness.” The professor shook his head at each. He contended that the most important word is “let.” Three letters held together with an electrical charge.

“Let” is a word that pleads with us to throw open some door inside ourselves to what God wants to do in us and for us. “Let” is an invitation, an appeal to the heart, an appeal to the will. “Let” in Col. 3:16 doesn’t stand alone in the Greek; it is one word with “dwell”: letdwell. Allow the Word of Christ to dwell in you richly. Practice ‘surrender’.

Jean Fleming
Pursue the Intentional Life

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

It is easier to be true to convictions formed in a vivid religious experience than to be true to Jesus Christ, because if we are going to be true to Jesus Christ our convictions have to be altered.
– Oswald Chambers

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

oh this love
that will not let me go
oh this love
it heals and makes whole
oh this love
forever I will sing
of this love
of my redeemer
king

oh this love
this beauty I cannot deny
oh this love
it makes my spirit fly
oh this love
I live it every day
oh this love
it changes everything

and I give You
all the glory
every day in every way
and my life is not my own now
I belong to You alone

(all to Jesus I surrender)

AL 6/19/14

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Glorious Love,
I let it all go now,
I let myself go.

An old tree disappearing
into the forest floor.
A whole closet cleared out.

All that I cling to,
what I wanted to do and to be,
the very who of me

I let fall into your hands,
die into your glory,
breathe out.

All day long I will wait
for the life you will give me,
for the I you will have me become

to rise at your touch,
to emerge from your breathing in me,
created in the moment,

not by my choosing,
not the old way, but a new life,
Christ raised, whole, in me.

I breathe out.
I wait.
I breathe in.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

For some time I thought there was time
and that there would always be time
for what I had a mind to do
and what I could imagine
going back to and finding it
as I had found it the first time
but by this time I do not know
what I thought when I thought back then
there is no time yet it grows less
there is the sound of rain at night
arriving unknown in the leaves
once without before or after
then I hear the thrush waking
at daybreak singing the new song

“The New Song” by W. S. Merwin

the words you speak become the house you live in. – Hafiz

20140619-092324-33804243.jpg

The Music of Language
Words Are Energy
by Madisyn Taylor

Each word we speak has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves into the expanse of the universe.

When we speak or write, we use the vehicles of words to carry meaning, as well as energy, from ourselves to another person or group of people. We may be speaking to our baby, our boss, or to an audience of 500 people. We may be writing a love letter, a work-related memo, or an entry in our own diary. Whatever the case, each word we speak or write has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves in the same way that a note of music creates waves. And like musical notes, our words live in communities of other words and change in relation to the words that surround them. When we are conscious of the energy behind our words, we become capable of making beautiful music in the world. If we are unconscious of the power of words, we run the risk of creating a noisy disturbance.

Some of us know this instinctively, while others come to this understanding slowly. Most of us, though, speak without thinking at least some of the time, blurting out our feelings and thoughts without much regard for the words we choose to express them. When we remind ourselves that our words have an impact on the world at the level of energy, we may find within ourselves the desire to be more aware of our use of language.

A fun way to increase our sensitivity to the power of words is to simply make a list of our favorite words and notice the energy they contain. We can write them down and post them where we can see them, or we can speak them aloud, feeling them reverberate in our bodies and in the air around us. This is like learning to consciously play an instrument that we have been playing unconsciously for most of our lives, and the effect can be startling and delightful. As we grow more comfortable and confident playing the instrument of language, we will begin to compose beautiful messages, creating positive energy every time we write or speak.

DailyOM
http://www.dailyom.com

20140619-092342-33822819.jpg

responding to good treatment

20140618-083530-30930823.jpg

The need comes on me now
to speak across the years
to those who finally will live here
after the present ruin, in the absence
of most of my kind who by now
are dead, or have given their minds
to machines and become strange,
“over-qualified” for the hard
handwork that must be done
to remake, so far as humans
can remake, all that humans
have unmade. To you, whoever
you may be, I say: Come,
meaning to stay. Come,
willing to learn what this place,
like no other, will ask of you
and your children, if you mean
to stay. “This land responds
to good treatment,” I heard
my father say time and again
in his passion to renew, to make
whole, what ill use had broken.
And so to you, whose lives
taken from the life of this place
I cannot foretell, I say:
Come, and treat it well.

“XI” by Wendell Berry

20140618-083602-30962176.jpg

Send them love.

Wish them peace.

See them happy.

Everyone, always, forever.

And prepare to be astounded,
The Universe

http://www.tut.com/

vulnerability always reveals new layers and levels of grieving, then healing

20140615-125758-46678418.jpg

you are a chooser

20140613-083427-30867827.jpg
It is not so much that the boat passed
and you failed to notice it.
It is more like the boat stopping
directly outside your bedroom window,
the captain blowing the signal-horn,
the band playing a rousing march.

The boat shouted, waving bright flags,
its silver hull blinding in the sunlight.

But you had this idea you were going by train.

You kept checking the time-table,
digging for tracks.

And the boat got tired of you,
so tired it pulled up the anchor
and raised the ramp.

The boat bobbed into the distance,
shrinking like a toy—
at which point you probably realized
you had always loved the sea.

“Missing the Boat” by Naomi Shihab Nye

20140613-083444-30884669.jpg

20140613-083655-31015511.jpg

Abba (breathe in) I belong to you (breathe out) – Brennan Manning

20140612-074902-28142309.jpg

Empowered to Receive Love

The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is “Abba, Father” but also that we belong to God as his beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning.

Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: “Daddy.” The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org

Trinity meditation

Holy One,
Mysterious Love,
“I Am,”

I wonder; I surrender.

Gentle Christ,
Self-Pouring
Companion,

I thank you; I love you.

Holy Spirit,
Divine Breathing,
Emerging love,

I bear you; I follow you.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

THE POSSIBLE CAUSE OF INVISIBILITY

20140611-090117-32477549.jpg

A somebody walks into a somewhere and meets a someone.

‘Why haven’t I seen you before’ said the somebody, on recognizing a brilliant indefinable light set deep in the bones of the someone.

The someone then sets forth with the usual catalog of tall tales. Each a credible explanation that would more than likely stand up to the strongest of winds.

But, as ever, the true cause of this seeming invisibility was the absence of an answer to a single profound question.

AM – I – WILLING – TO – BE – SEEN – NO – MATTER – WHAT?

Nic Askew
soulbiographies.com

20140611-090205-32525138.jpg

20140611-090215-32535432.jpg

20140611-090229-32549928.jpg

20140611-090245-32565478.jpg

20140611-090311-32591090.jpg

20140611-090324-32604060.jpg

20140611-090341-32621911.jpg

awareness is the bridge to gratitude

20140610-082633-30393781.jpg

We know it is close
to something lofty.
Simply getting over being sick
or finding lost property
has in it the leap,
the purge, the quick humility
of witnessing a birth—
how love seeps up
and retakes the earth.
There is a dreamy
wading feeling to your walk
inside the current
of restored riches,
clocks set back,
disasters averted.

Relief by Kay Ryan

20140610-090730-32850970.jpg

The poets job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it. – Jane Kenyon

20140609-103909-38349465.jpg

Even with the Bumps
by Jenna Doezema

There will be hard paths to walk
People: evil, cruel that stalk
Even in bumps through the trail,
If you hold God’s hand, you will not fail

Yes, evil lurks in all direction,
But you have strength in God’s perfection
He will send down miracles,
Like Jesus rising from the dead
His body no longer covered in red

A few days later he’s teaching about God
How he uses you like a rod
You’re the bait
Getting people from every country and every state
to learn about Him

When times are rough, go and pray
Day after day after day
Praise the Lord
He is your weapon;
Your glorious shining sword
Strikes enemies in your right
And He will always win the fight
Remember, He is all powerful!

20140609-103933-38373488.jpg

Post Navigation