life: acoustic & amplified

beauty begins inside

GIFT

It is my job as a poet seer,

as one who feels before I see

to find the words, even if it hurts.

To carry the light into dark corners.

To bring the word that turns the heart,

the word that speaks into the barren centre

that it might spring to life.

We are each given life

to turn it from more than a spark,

to draw from it a forest fire.

All of us, are given the means to

grow the gifts we have received.

And they are not for us, never for us;

but we are blessed through their practice.

What brings life to others

charges us at our own core.

We live in the stream, when we are living who we truly are.

It is my job to follow my unravelling pen.

Just as its yours to draw the glory that you see,

to move heaven and earth in prayer

or lay out a table for your friends, and your enemies.

To turn compassion into action,

to bandage up and heal.

To express the love that is your reason, in the way you are designed.

We are each of us His

and He becomes revealed to the extent that

we express His heart through our gifts.

Yes, it is my job, even if it hurts

to faithfully draw images with my words.

To bring to birth again and again the

new thing He wants to do.

We have a vocation,

each a calling and to find it is to

follow the stream to the source;

to put out our clay jars

and watch them fill,

that we might pour them out

Into the world.

🌎

Ana Lisa de Jong

Living Tree Poetry

September 2017

 

You want me to

give up my story

so that you can

tell yours.

I want you to

give up your story

so that I can tell mine.

What if we both

give up our stories

To hear the waves

of silence

grinding our sculls

into sparkling sand?

To hear the glassy chime

of seven trillion stars

in the boundless heart?

What if we drown together

in the catastrophic emptiness

of love?

What if we truly listen?

__________

Alfred K LaMotte

I lay down the backpack,

quit the journey to the far place.

I set aside the pick and shovel,

the coded treasure map.

I renounce the person I want to become,

abdicate mastery of my fate.

I rest my fears, desires and intentions.

Even the angel within me,

wings tightly wrapped, rests.

Already a holy vessel,

I rest with the Presence I hold.

I rest in this:

You, I AM,

in me,

becoming,

and I allowing.

———–

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Lightwww.unfoldinglight.net And then there comes a moment

when all you have suffered

all you have learned

all you have lost and found

rise up and become

and suddenly –

you are

who you dreamed of being

so many years ago

suddenly you have arrived

at what you caught glimpses of

for so many years

and the search

the free fall of broken dreams

broken hearts

broken everything

tumbling down rabbit holes

stumbling over the feet

of your own lack of knowledge –

is over!

Suddenly you find yourself

on solid ground

stable

steady

raising your ‘Ebenezer’

(a joyful monument to God

for all the mighty stones of help

with building this foundation on the solid rocks –

you know each one so personally!)

and though the pilgrimage may continue

though the journey is definitely not over

though life is fragile

and security an illusion

there is a new sureness to your step

a trusting unshakable

a calm in it all

a new assurance of provision

a new traveling song to be sung as you walk forward

always forward

always pilgrim ready for new adventures

forgetting the names of what lay behind

you press on to your purpose

the glory of the prize set before

reveling in the mercies ever new

for each and every day

there is no stopping you now

you have found something

which cannot ever be taken

you have arrived here by your own determination

reached a place

both spiritual and physical

a place of such magnitude

the light shines from every angle

it has sealed up the oldest sores

bound up the deepest wounds

satisfied the deepest longings

changed everything

settled old scores with finality

no longer will you settle for less than you deserve

no more will you tolerate anything less than your best and highest offerings

you must be all you can be

gratitude fills you for this place

a place so lovely

it can bear up

even under the weight

of your hearts wildest desires

with just its simple name –

the word resounds inside your soul like a bell –

home

yes, beloved,

you are home.

right where you belong.

🏡

Amy Lloyd

Nic Askew @ Soul Biographies

http://nicaskew.com