wrapped up
“An enigma wrapped in a paradox and shrouded in a conundrum” (Levi, 2008)
Impermanence is both a process of continual loss,
in which things exist and then disappear.
And it is also a process of continuous rebirth or creativity,
in which things that do not exist suddenly appear.
~ Joseph Goldstein
Paradoxical thinking is key to creativity, which comes from the capacity to entertain apparently contradictory ideas in a way that stretches the mind and opens the heart to something new. Paradox is also a way of being that’s key to wholeness, which does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life…..To be whole I have to be able to say I am both shadow and light.
~ Parker Palmer
I sit with relief
A feeling Unfamiliar for 120 days
welcome yet Tentative
Am I out of the worst of dark?
It’s hard to tell
Hard to trust
Reside of dark
Leaves soot on the soul
Holes seared in the heart
The burning rings
Still glow around the edges
Like that day when my sister, Nancy, dropped ash on her new red skirt as we sat in the old Pontiac sharing that stolen cigarette
I was 5 or 6
I still feel her fear
It tastes like ashes in my throat
The fire has burned very hot
Will I recover?
Not likely
The flame has changed the chemistry
Of the soul it touched
What will be the new metal?
Will it be stronger and better?
To hot right now to touch
Gotta cool down
Hopefully this will be the alchemy
To turn a fool into gold
Only Time will tell
🕝
Amy Lloyd
What gets you through the desert?
What gets you through?
What gets you through the chemo,
the healing from abuse, the bad marriage,
what gets you through
the job that tries to kill you,
the dark alley of the shadow of death,
the rotten places, the placeless places,
the evil you fear, the evil you’ve done,
your daily inadequacy,
what gets you through?
Some will call it courage or stamina,
luck or faith or reaching down deep.
But you know it’s not you, not yours.
It’s given. To you. For you.
From the Holy One.
The thread you follow,
the source you drink from,
the encouraging voice,
the Divine desire that you thrive,
the gift amid the desolation,
you fund it anywhere—
the usual, the impossible,
the unwelcome.
You learn to recognize it.
You learn to receive it.
For that grace that gets you through
you learn to say thank you.
You learn to count on it,
and be surprised,
every morning.
Every morning.
_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Lightwww.unfoldinglight.net
life: acoustic & amplified 