life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “action”

all things new 


God is not doing an old thing. God is not doing the next thing. God is doing a new thing and new things don’t fit in old vessels. As I was praying I believe the Lord is saying that He is making old vessels new again. Shedding off the old and making it new. This may mean old ways of thinking, repetitive ways that don’t work anymore or don’t yield results as they used to. Old bodies that don’t function the way they used to. Feeling any younger yet? Old and achy bodies will be regenerated into young, flexible and new bodies for the new thing to be placed into. New wine doesn’t go into old wine skins. God needs us 50ish people (give or take a few years) to impart into the younger generations and we need to be as active as they are.

🌎

      – David Hoffman


I meet you in the dark 

with my secret information,

my furtive questions.

I bring my grainy picture.

You bring me out into light

and give me yours, so much better,

for you too have been observing 

even more keenly

and loving even more deeply. 

God I come over and over

to give you 

my view of myself

and walk away with yours.

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


pray & remember


I pray today for those who have suffered and sacrificed

in service to their country.

I honor the sacrifice of soldiers and sailors who have died,

and for their loved ones, who still suffer.

I pray for those who are injured,

especially those poorly cared for.

I pray for those whose who are injured in heart or mind or soul.

I pray for those whose spirits died

when they were forced to witness or commit horrible things,

whose souls have been hollowed out,

or whose purpose has been shattered.

I pray for homeless veterans,

for addicts and suicides and vets haunted by PTSD,

for they too are casualties of our way of war.

I pray for those who are sexually abused and harassed,

whose suffering continues after their time of duty.

I pray for those who have served who are lonely,

who are sad, who are guilty or ashamed.

I pray for those who are proud but unappreciated.

I pray for healing for all those who bear the wounds

we choose others to suffer and to inflict. 

And I pray for those of other nations, too.

God bless all who have suffered and sacrificed:

may they know healing, grace, and deep peace. 
Amen.

__________________ 
Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


graphic found at http://www.pinterest.com

happy days 



Hello, Friday. 

Bon voyage, day ‪in May‬. 

Good night, daylight.  

so long, sunny de-light. 

see ya later, ‘gator-‘gator. 

After while, crocodile.  

‪tomorrow‬ is another day,

where the flowers sing and sway. 

dancing will commence at daybreak. 

Good night, darlin’ moon,

see ya again real soon. 

Oh, hi there, Saturday,

Good morning to you, happy day,

let’s have a groovy one, 

K?

💃🏻

AL

If anything matters then everything matters.       – Wm Paul Young


Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.
Your love

Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,

Only to someone who has the valor and daring

To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket

To protect you.
Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.
Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
There are different wells within your heart.

Some fill with each good rain,

Others are far too deep for that
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me”
There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.

💙

   – Hafez



I stand in the cold surf

waiting 

for what I am to receive 

I look at,

then past,

glistening rocks,

colored shells,

green sea glass,

none of them right. 

My back to the Sound,

head down,

Waves coming and going,

Sand shifting under my wet feet. 

I scan, 

wait for what I must recognize –

 then I see it. 

this????

a black glob of rocks stuck together 

browns and grey and bits of reds

it’s ugly

it’s heavy

it’s rough

it’s jagged

it’s not what I thought I wanted,

it’s not what I thought was valuable. 

what is it, that the water has just delivered, 

and I feel lead to pick up

to take home with me?

I want it to be romantic. 

Maybe…

I search for romance…

Could it be a meteorite?

a mystery from another planet?  
I walk the mile home,

wondering what lessons I will learn from this ‘gift’

I have just received from the ocean. 

Almost home,

one more curve,

I spot my favorite kinda caterpillar,

the brown and black,

softest, loveliest velvet

crawler in the world. 

I loved the feel of them as a little girl,

let them crawl all over me.

I pass it,

then double back, 

as directed by intuition,

to visit this small friend. 

I am bent down,

as my fuzzy friend moves along,

and recognition comes. 

I carry, 

in my hands….
asphalt,

ASPHALT???!!!
a piece of the road,  

which came to me by way of the ocean. 
I belly laugh 

as I my lesson, 

my gift,

becomes clear. 

I am,

 right now,

every moment,

in the ocean of grace

no matter where I am

the path is in the ocean of love,

of God. 
This road is everywhere!
It rises to meet me,

no matter where I stand!
I comes one small glimpse at a time. 
This is gift –

teaching me what I need,

bringing me diamonds with each step. 

Living,

 breathing,

learning, 

expanding

thanks 

is the best gift. 
We are always loved

The message is waiting in 

every surf,

every leaf,

every tree,

every song,

every heart beat,

every tiny created thing,

every little moment,

breathes and burns. 
Oh, Beloved,

Remove your shoes. 

Dive into the sky! 

sing

holy, holy, holy!

then fly away 

home.

I’ll meet you there! 

xoxo

🏞
AL


gone fishing 


There is sensual pleasure in a small act done well 

My whole being loves how you cast that fishing rod

sight, sound, smell, touch, hearing all involved

observing,

absorbing,

thrilling; 

It sticks with me and loops in my memory – 

this beautiful dance of motion

playing again and again

the quick, sure whip of the rod,

the slow arc of the line against the blue sky before it breaks the water,

the vulture floating high in the blue and white, being themselves, 

sure of their importance,

not questioning their beauty,

or the importance of their purpose,

the graceful, smooth winding of the reel,

the flash of the silver lure dancing below the surface of the green water 

your patience as you teach me, 

a very amature student –

all revealing a new layer of beauty,

I want to learn this rhythm,

my soul responds with deep desire,

I want to be a natural part of this world,

a silver flash,

a big blue sky. 

🎣

AL


Birds know north without looking.

Some fish have a line down their bodies

to sense electrical fields

or changes in water pressure.

Jumping spiders see ultraviolet.

Bees have a little compass of iron

and can read earth’s magnetic field. 

And there’s a little silver thing in you

that listens to the Holy Spirit.

It’s really quiet, so you have to be quiet

to hear it listening, but it hears.

You don’t have to hear God;

just let the little silver thing in you

listen to the Spirit and speak 

to the rest of your body. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


* 4 middle Fish photos above were taken by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

go outside to go inside


The plains ignore us,

but these mountains listen,

an audience of thousands

holding its breath

in each rock. Climbing,

we pick our way

over the skulls of small talk.

On the prairies below us,

the grass leans this way and that

in discussion;

words fly away like corn shucks

over the fields.

Here, lost in a mountain’s

attention, there’s nothing to say.

Visiting Mountains by Ted Kooser


you got this…





It won’t matter that 10,000 doors might be slammed in your face because when door number 10,001 flies open, revealing pathways of jade and gardens of love, with flowers dancing, fountains sparkling, friends blushing, moonbeams glowing, and abundance abounding, you’ll completely forget about all the other doors. 
Happens every day, 

    The Universe


LOVE seeing this quote of mine as inspirational art!!! Soooo grateful to John Cool-Sign! Check out his Etsy store, thatcoolsign, for all the yummy stuff!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/thatCoolSign?ref=search_shop_redirect&show_panel=true

suit up


We drift through this gray, increasing nowhere

 Until we stand before a threshold we know

 We have to cross to come alive once more.
 May we have the courage to take the step

 Into the unknown that beckons us;

 Trust that a richer life awaits us there,

 That we will lose nothing

 But what has already died;

 Feel the deeper knowing in us sure

 Of all that is about to be born beyond

 The pale frames where we stayed confined,

 Not realizing how such vacant endurance

 Was bleaching our soul’s desire. 

❤️

    – John O’Donohue 


What are waves to rocks 

before they become 

the softness of sand…

Is that not love?

Whoever said ferocity 

cannot be kind

never saw the way a seed 

is destroyed as it 

comes alive.

     ~Joshua Israelievitch


If you want to succeed in your life, remember this phrase: The past does not equal the future. Because you failed yesterday; or all day today; or a moment ago; or for the last six months; the last sixteen years; or the last fifty years of life, doesn’t mean anything… All that matters is: 

What are you going to do, right now?  

     – Tony Robbins 


I am so tired of waiting,

Aren’t you,

For the world to become good

And beautiful and kind?

-Langston Hughes

going on  



You have burned your bridges.

You have passed through the gate

marked “no return”

And for you there is no going back

No going back to the security of

the known, familiar house,

To the well-worn dispensations

and the threadbare coverings.

Now you are out there in uncharted

territory

heavy with threat and shadows not

yet entered.

The risks are high, and yet you

strike out boldly,

Guided only by unwavering conviction

And the longing for the true centre

of the land.

This is what it means to do a new

thing.

So, you travel lightly.

You are abandoned, given up in all

things

To the task that lies ahead.

Therefore, you may be exactly who

you are.

You have inhabited yourself,

You are at home,

And home is where you are,

Even if it is the desert.

No one can dispossess you of your own in-dwelling.

This is what it means to be free.

We stand, one foot upon the bridge,

Wondering if we too have the courage to go over

And strike the match behind us.

🔥

The Dream of Learning our True Name by Kathy Galloway 


Trees not yet leafed out,

the woods aren’t green,

just tiny flakes of green
in their childish little hands,

soft and small.

Something larger than them
from deep down stirs,

exceeds itself in them.

Among those who dare
a new thing

God grant me

such ancient courage.
__________________ 
Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net




photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, or sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way. –Anonymous


19 years ago today

I stood at the edge

of a great abyss 

in life

a part of me,

not known until that time,

had awakened

now I had a choice to make,

to accept –

or deny –

this part of myself,

which was revealed 

in such a wild, 

drastic,

unexpected

and overwhelming manner

I knew this would be

what, ultimately,

saved,

or

destroyed,

my life.

as I stood,

still in innocence,

not really knowing –

yet, somehow,

knowing in every way –

the costs,

the benefits,

the responsibility,

the awareness.

the long dark road ahead,

the excruciating valley years to come,

the sharp, rugged climb up the mountain. 

19 years ago,

on this day,

I struggled 

with all of this.

I made certain vows 

concerning the choices 

I would make through 

my time of learning:

I would only follow love. 

No matter how I failed, I would remember it is not about how good I am. I would try to live the words of Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount. 

I would never make a choice 

simply to benefit myself 

or to get money. 

I would learn to be truthful and fair and be the person I wanted to be. 

I would be honest with myself – always – especially when I was wrong, or made a mistake. 

I would stay aware and learn – so I would not make the same mistake twice. 

I would make the best choice I could any given moment, and then move forward the best I could with no regret. 

I would do my best and give my best. 

I would look for good things every day. 

That day I said ‘yes!’ to life

I jumped off the cliff

and began…

for good…

for bad…

to make my choices 

from a new place of radical trust. 

the rest is my history…

🍎

AL


All of my life I searched for truth and wanted to be beautiful

All my life I kept on moving looking for my home

All my life I played the part that someone else said was beautiful

All my life I lived afraid I couldn’t play that part

now I knock upon your door hear what my heart’s been longing for

welcome home

you belong

you are here 

where I love you, 

I want you

welcome home

won’t you stay

in my arms

I will hold you, 

I need you

I won’t ever leave you

you are home

you are never alone

welcome home

I will sing you a song

I will build you an alter

I will shout to the hills

I will rise to the sky

I will bake you some bread

I will drink to your honor

I will dance in the rain

I will celebrate always

🏡

AL


 
Character. Strength. Intelligence. Style. That makes beauty.

💞

— Diane Von Furstenberg 

A man looked for meaning.

For his very place in life.
He searched high and low.
He’d often hear a whisper, calling

his name from the other side

of what seemed like a door.
A door that remained hidden

from his ability to see.
Frustrated, he’d knock on

everything that resembled

a door. Turning here,

and there. Turning

just about anywhere.
Then one day,

unannounced,

it opened.
And he realised that he’d been

knocking from the inside.

And that the whisper

had been an echo.
The echo of his own soul

reminding him that

he was already home.

💞

The Whisper and the Echo by Nic Askew

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